I have finalized my Portugal Itinerary:
Fly into Lisbon the morning of October 20. Train to the Algarve that afternoon. Stay at Lou's place until December 16.
Train to Lisbon December 16 and stay in Airbnb in the Alfama neighborhood.
Return to Toronto December 20.
I built this site to keep track of my travels. While I’m on a trip, I’ll try to post daily updates. I’ll also be filling in earlier trips over time, using my journals, map data, and photo galleries, so those posts will appear sporadically. For now, there are big gaps in the timeline, but I’ll close them gradually.
A few weeks ago, Geoff and Lorraine offered me another three months in Vanuatu looking after their home and their dog, Vatu, just down the beach from Sal and John’s place. I would have loved to take it, but who knows how all this virus stuff is going to shake out?
So I’m back in Toronto. I feel like people aren’t taking Covid-19 seriously. I flew Vanuatu > Fiji > Los Angeles > Toronto, and only Fiji checked the temperatures of incoming visitors. Everywhere else was a shitshow.
Late. Exhausted. Heading to bed. I'm really going to miss that little country.
Flight one of three, totalling 28 hours of travel:
Toronto > Los Angeles
Los Angeles > Fiji
Fiji > Vanuatu
I've decided to take a trip over the winter of 2019/20.
I'll leave Cabarete and spend a couple of weeks in Toronto getting everything in order. Then, it's 28 hours of flights to the South Pacific archipelago nation of Vanuatu, where I'll stay until March. It'll be my longest journey yet – Melbourne was 22 and a half hours, if I remember correctly.
Technically, the Vanuatu visa limit for Canadians is three months, but a friend, Sallie, who's offered me lodging, says she can pull some strings with her contacts in Immigration. Neat trick if she can manage it. Otherwise I'l be back sometime in February.
Thankfully, temps will be a little cooler than the Dominican has been, but I shouldn't need to pack anything unusual. It'll be cyclone season there but I always pack Good Nature in my carry-on. I'll just have to bring enough to share with the locals.
Gonna take my first trip to the Dominican Republican. Will spend the month of October on a beach in Cabarete. Friends Gillian and Rodney are letting me stay in their condo while they settle some affairs in their home in London.
Spoke with Anne Marie. She and Richard are gonna leave town for a bit so will crash at their place in Woodland Hills and look after Spooky. Looking forward to some hot tub time with a good book.
This gives me about another week or so in Harley's loft. I always enjoy my time here. He's been out of town and I'm sharing the place with the director, Noaz Deshe. Knowledgable guy. Just about fell off his chair when he realized I could discuss the work of Miklós Jancsó.
I believe Harley's table seats 30. I've been to numerous Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners here over the years. The food and company are always extraordinary. I generally bring Sprouts 225, which is always a hit and is easy to make.
The Barcelona airport has a different vibe than most others.
Heading to LA for a bit. Gonna crash at a few different places: Rolo and Bailey's in Beverly Glen; Henry's in Mar Vista; Judd's in Venice; Harley's in DTLA; and maybe with Reese in Santa Monica.
Will do my best to catch up with Alicia, Scott, and Nirvan.
I asked Ana Maria what time her flight was and if there was anything I could do to help her prepare. Turns out, the odd feeling I had yesterday was not unfounded. She's confessed that she doesn’t own the house she’s asked me to look after while she travels, and she isn’t even Spanish; she’s Maltese. She’s rented the house long term, paying a lump sum in advance, and then decided she doesn’t want to be here. Blanche, her cat, makes further travel difficult for her, so she wants me to look after the cat while she heads to Abu Dhabi and the Seychelles.
The problem? She didn’t clear this with Miguel, her landlord, before her trip, or before having me fly over. She’s invited him to lunch with us today so we can meet. I’m good at first impressions, so I’m not worried about the lunch, but the circumstances are bizarre. Further complicating matters, she hasn’t bought her plane ticket yet, presumably foreseeing there may be an issue. So she’s covered her own ass and left mine hanging in the wind.
Grabbed an early breakfast and walked to Barcelona Sants to catch the 11am train to Valencia-Estacio Del Nord. Will spend just a day in the city before heading on to Oliva via bus.
