It won't have escaped your notice that the world is on lockdown at the moment and that there's little prospect of the restrictions lifting any time soon.
I'm starting to feel rather glad that we tendered our resignations from December this year, not from August as would have been the norm. We did this because we thought we'd dodge the rainy season, and also because we thought it would increase our chances of being able to secure new jobs for September 2021. But it now has the added benefit of buying us a bit more time to ride out the COVID-19 disaster.
There is, though, every possibility that things still won't be properly 'fixed' by December. Border restrictions may not yet have lifted and/or there could be a sense that western travellers across Asia are unwelcome. Our original cycle plans might have to be shelved :-(
So I've started to draw up alternative plans just in case. Here they are in descending order of preference:
- West Coast of N. America (Alaska>Canada>West Coast States)
- West Coast States only
- Australia Sydney > Perth
- Russia (Siberia > Moscow)
- Straight back home to 'normal life'
Having got the opportunity to take some time off, I'd really rather not waste it - so an immediate return to normality comes at the bottom of the list.
My thinking is that more developed nations are likely to be further forward in January 2021 than are poorer parts of the world, hence the pivot to the first world. I also suspect that crossing borders will be an issue, and so have gravitated towards tours that stay in one country throughout.
I still hold out hope that we can do what we originally set out to do - cycle home from Bangkok. But if we can't we have other options...
