It's been an age since I published the last entry from Peru in 2016. Wasn't sure I'd be able to find the blog again, but Blogger hasn't asked for my password so far, so maybe I'm all right. I hope I'll be able to find my password in Safari when I'm using the new laptop on the journey.
So, not overexcited yet, as the trip is still three weeks off and I have a heap of bookings and other preparations to make, but the last time I left the country was 2019 when the Clingon and I spent a month in Chile and Argentina, most of it in Patagonia.
We arrived back in Australia on the first of February 2020, having seen news of the progress of COVID-19, interspersed with the news about demonstrations against the government, every time we watched the news in Chile. I remember very clearly returning from the airport in Sydney in an Uber. The Clingon and the driver talked dismissively of the virus, saying that more people were dying of other diseases but they didn't get the press coverage. Then, of course, you know the story. In March 2020, the then (thankfully, not incumbent!) PM prohibited Australians from leaving the country and most of those Australians out of the country were not able to return. So began more than two years of restrictions of movement, during the first year of which, some Sydneysiders (including us here in Bayside local council area) were not permitted to leave the area. We were allowed to travel up to 5 kilometres from our homes, but that was it.
I taught classes online, which was awful and something that I never want to do again.
However, back to the precursor to the trip. . . During lockdown most people cooked more (restaurants were closed) or ordered more take-away deliveries. Most people drank more alcohol, including myself. Most people gained COVID kilos. I'm still trying to shake mine. And we all watched more movies and programs on the video streaming services such as Netflix, Stan, Google, etc. Among other shows, I watched "Shetland", a series set in the Shetland Islands of Scotland, and fell in love with the landscape and Jimmy Perez, the police chief played by Douglas Henshall.
However, finally we were freed from travel restrictions a couple of months ago, and I decided to use up a QANTAS voucher that I was unable to utilise to go to South Africa in 2020. Well, the value of the voucher is almost nothing now because of the increases in airfares due to the increase in the price of petrol and the great desire of the national carrier to claw back some of their financial losses over the last few years.
Never-the-less, after paying $2,400 more for the privilege, I will leave Sydney for London, and from there I will train it or drive to spend time in Northumberland, Edinburgh and the Scottish highlands and islands. I aim to reach the Shetlands by putting the rental car on ferries, through the Orkney Islands and then on to Shetland.
So, best get going now. Got to book my car and accommodation for Edinburgh. Talk later. Please leave a comment, if you've got the urge. I will love hearing from you, especially when I've left home and am on the other side of the world.
