To enter war zones, was till now not topic here in the thread "travel 2022"...

Time and cash, I`m not shure if one or both "help" in such situations.

If I look to syria, lybia or irak as example - it seems like too "a lot of" cash - and a "lot of time" dont lead to "the end" of military interactions. Will also not help in the ukraine...

Surfy

In case that circumstances of the war could change suddenly and effect countries who share landborders with Ukraine and of course countries who have a land border with Russia it could be wise to be careful and attentive if you want traveling there.

In the moment I don`t believe that these countries will be drawn into a active war zone but refugees, higher security measures and economcial impacts e.g. fuel shortage can change a travel situation over night.

(Only as an example:in Germany people started hoarding toilet papers in the beginning of the pandemic and 2 weeks after war start all kinds of oils for cooking, flour, dry yeast, rice and noodles are permantly sold out. Ok, its totally stupid but an example of a sudden awakening of social fears which do appear in a society who is used to buy everything at any time)

Embee asked if it was good to travel/take a vacation during this time of trouble. IMO, war zones(anywhere) are a no go. Places with a low economic level are helped when tourists with gobs of cash(from their view), looking for non First World sights, come and gawk.

Since the start of January I've been travelling by bike in Spain and Portugal. It's warmer here at the moment than in my adopted home country of Bulgaria. Things are warming up now though, so will return there next month.

I've one definite travel commitment this year and a few "cunning plans", money, C19 restrictions and visas dependent. I know whatever "plan" I have now will be different when the time comes :D

Last year I travelled in Turkey and multiple European countries (most non EU travel was tricky because of C19. Within non-UK Europe, land based travel was very easy with an EU passport).

Over many years I've travelled by motorcycle in many countries, worldwide. It's what I do.

I don't like being in the line of fire, so will bear this mind when planning possibly future trips :mchappy:

In my view it's easy to talk your way out of trips when you watch/read too much hyperbole-infused "news" and especially social media chatter.

This seems about right to me. If there's anything we should have learned during the past couple of years (in the case of US residents like me, since the 2016 presidential election) it's that advance planning is subject to stuff we can't even imagine ahead of time.

On a small scale this was always true, and flexible responses were always a necessary ingredient in any sort of adventurous travel (i.e., if there are brushfire wars to the left, I alter plans and head to the right instead). But on this larger scale.... If you'd told me the US/Canada border--one of the friendliest in the world for people with my passport, ethnicity and skin color--would abruptly shut down for over a year I'd have written you off entirely. But my mother's (Canadian) ashes have been sitting in a drawer for two years, waiting for an opportunity for far-flung family to gather and dispose of them properly.

The real problem is not that the recent (and current) border closures might continue or expand. The problem is that events beyond our ability to realistically imagine them may easily occur--not more of the same, but something new added to the mix. A renewed cold war? Extended closure of Chinese borders (If two years is possible, why not five? Ten? They've done it before.)? Religious and ethnic violence expanding from the Sahel into the tropical zones of East or West Africa? Widespread civil insurrection in, say, my country or yours?

Or maybe just another pandemic--one with higher mortality, or which targets younger people?

I've continued to plan, of course. But the sort of specific, long-term planning I used to do, in which I adjusted for minor disruptions on the fly, has turned out to be surprisingly unrealistic. Instead: keeping it loose, with backups (and backups for backups) and the sense that it all might devolve into local road-tripping in relative isolation.

Ok, I'll quit before I descend into maudlin meanderings. Just trying to puzzle my way through, as one does.

Mark

Wow. A genuine first! Mark referring to a post of mine in a positive and productive way, rather than, yet again, scolding an utterance of mine in a surreptitious and school teacherly way.

Peace, well and truly, might have broken out. :clap:

Bright and Out!

That's pretty much what you said the previous time, too, Chris. My new theme song:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LAX5GgvS-8s

(insert smilie here)

There was a previous time?! My memory doesn't go that far back :D Is this an attempt at a HUBB brand relaunch with soft and fluffy super mods? (Sorry. It's the cynic in me coming out. :helpsmilie: )

https://youtu.be/40YzTpxrdZQ

well said, there is so much of propaganda from both sides it's hard to believe in anything these days.

Yep. Now, if I want to travel somewhere, I often avoid the news and most social media/websites/fora except a few trusted travel related groups and then only take the advice/information of a few trusted or recommended people or my own private contacts onboard, rather than the masses who while generally well meaning, know nothing and are generally only pedalling random hearsay and innuendo.

My own ethics decide if I wish to try to visit countries with dubious leaders/ "foreign policy initiatives". The "leader"/ "government" :D of the country of which I hold a passport are so morally bankrupt, it's tricky for me to cast aspersions over other countries. I prefer to meet the regular people and make my own opinion of them. And, of course, I prefer mountains, twisty and dirt roads, warm and dry weather, a bit of culture and to avoid the usual tourist haunts.

There is an easy solution for the "propaganda" problem, and that is to read what is published in countries on each side of a conflict or ideological position.

For example, in the context of the current Ukrainian war, I read what is published in the Times of London and the Washington Post, but I also read what is published in Pravda.ru and RT.ru (importantly, I go to the original Russian language website, and use Google to do the translation, I don't go to the English language sites of these two because the English language content they publish is aimed at a different audience than their native language content).

I then compare the content and try to draw my own conclusions. The conclusions I draw are not always accurate on a "very short term" basis (one daily news story to another), but they do seem pretty solid when a longer term comparison (weeks) is made.

As for touring in 2022 - I live in Canada, but I'm going over to Europe next week to do a month's worth of riding. I plan to visit France, Spain, and Portugal. I expect things will be pretty normal in those countries, the French election, COVID and high gas prices notwithstanding.

Michael

So your way to compare content is the way to find out what is Propaganda and what isn`t?

Sorry, makes me grin...

If you want a better translation for foreign textes you should switch for a try to DeepL.

Google uses a rule and statistical based translation process while DeepL adds a artifical neural maschine based on AI to the translation process. Also DeepL doesn`t bother with a limit of 3900 signs as Google Translator does.

But a software programm cannot comprehend cultural or contextual nuances as well as termbases or customizations. This is also the reason why all major newspapers who offer bilingual context hire human translators. Which in general generates a more qualificated translation result from the native newspaper language than any kind of maschine translation can do today!

By my experience DeepL avoids more effective the problem that all online maschine translators have in common: poor phonetically translation of single words without reproducing the context!

https://www.deepl.com/translator

I do pretty similar, with the more reputable sections of the UK press, Reuters and RT. The trouble with this is you end up not knowing what to believe, and making a judgement comes down to your own viewpoint. No doubt this is the object of the exercise with competing propaganda arms, but I'd like to think we as travellers have more open minds than the average consumer purely of their own mass media domestic news outlets.

As for how it influences travel plans? Well, there were plenty of war zones round the world before 2022, and plenty of places so racked by disaster or poverty that your welcome would been as a rolling cash machine. Information is the key, whether from media, dedicated websites or fellow travellers.

The world will always have conflicts and suffering like pandemics, natural calamities and more.Life is short so make most of it.I feel it is not at all selfish, it's just that the thought came to your mind proves that you are not selfish.Yes, travel expense will definitely shoot up and this his how the economics work.Go ahead and travel.