Red Rover Red Rover, Can Randy Come Over? Usually the tickle in my tummy on the airplane comes from turbulence and/or a slight fear of flying (who would’ve imagined, right?) But this nervous feeling was from something totally different. As we touched down in Vilnius, Lithuania, I was the fifth passenger off. The anxiety increased…
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Last Stop: Liechtenstein Liechtenstein was the last stop (before heading home through Zurich) on my July 2020 European trip, smack dab in the middle of the pandemic. Thankfully, the trip had worked out so well. I was so afraid of being turned back at each new border I timidly approached, but I’d successfully entered and…
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Road Trip! July 2020 was a tough time for any American to be traveling through Europe. For all intents and purposes, Americans couldn’t travel to Europe. And while the EU had opened its borders on July 1st, you were not permitted to enter on an American passport. Luckily, I’d been graciously given an “exception” by…
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Bus Stop(ped) I waited until 11:20AM before walking back into the Skopje Central Bus Station and inquire about the 11AM bus to Pristina that I’d bought a ticket for the day before. I’d been sitting by myself at the departure bay since 10:30 with no sign of the coach. “Border closed, no boose,” explained the…
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Iiiiiiiin North Macedonia, Born and Raised… North Macedonia was smack dab in the middle of my July 2020 pandemic grand voyage. A stressful and complicated trip that involved border permits, special health insurance certificates, Corona test result scans, quarantine tracking apps and a handful of other miscellaneous documents and forms. There’s no doubt that traveling…
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Moldova, Moldova, Send Randy Right Ova Moldova was probably the trickiest stop on this twelve-nation European trek during the heart of the Corona virus pandemic. I’d hastily booked a ton of flights: I assumed these nations would open based on a handful of unofficial blogs I’d read. While the intel was correct about some countries…
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Bella-Whose? I remember the very first time I ever heard of the nation of Belarus. I was on a cruise ship many years ago, long before I was a serious traveler. Most of the staff were foreigners, with their country listed on their name tag. I remember asking my Mom, “Mom, where’s Bell-ARE-us?” “It’s pronounced…
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