Chat Zone for The Big Big Trip Journal!

[HobbesOnTour]

@HobbesOnTour I feel relative safety at the moment is being isolated as much as you can.
You're in the ideal position to do that.
I think (purely from my position here, of course) that you should stay in Mexico, try to find a friendly, remote village where you can weather this out.
Ok, you could get sick, but it's the same here, we are really just hoping for the best, taking precautions, there's no guarantee of success lol
Depending on how the situation develops, you can, in a couple of months decide if to carry on touring or heading back to Europe.
Practice your Spanish a lot, a good grasp of the language will help immensely whatever comes next.
When the pandemic is over, I'll come visit you in the Netherlands or in Ireland, with my bike

I'll look forward to the visit!! 😀

That's my first instinct too, to hunker down and wait it out. My current location is perfect for that and I am sorely tempted.

However, taking a longer term perspective, even if the spread of the virus stopped tomorrow there are a lot of issues to work their way downstream, so to speak. It will be a while before a lot of services I depend on (campsites, small hotels, restaurants, shops etc.) will be back to normal.
There is also a multitude of countries on my route and thus far there is little coordination between them. I just read of a group of cyclists being rounded up in northern Columbia and being quarantined indefinitely by the army. Questions answered with a gun! Decisions are made on passports carried, not length of time in the region.
A resurgence of the virus in the winter, for example, could leave me stuck in a nasty situation.
As on another thread here, the reactions of locals to outsiders is becoming uncomfortable, to say the least - and that's in the UK.
On a Facebook forum another poster alluded to the security situation and the risk that exposes foreigners to.

I've just asked my (wonderful) AirBnB hosts about the possibility of storing my bike here, indefinitely, and am waiting on an answer. If positive, I think I will book a ticket to Europe and sit it out over there, returning when it is sensible to do so.

I'm gutted at the prospect of stopping, but I have had such a wonderful time so far, with amazing hospitality it would be a shame to risk it all by overstaying my welcome.

 

[Vantage]

I'd love to get hold of whoever started this effing virus and kick the living **** out of them.

 

[HobbesOnTour]

I'd love to get hold of whoever started this effing virus and kick the living **** out of them.

You know, on the one hand I agree with you, on the other hand humanity has been given a great opportunity to look at itself, decide what it likes and doesn't about itself and make some changes. There may be some positives out of all this and at the end of the day a bike tour is neither here nor there.

But go with your Dad whenever you do get the chance! I, for one will be very jealous!

 

[Vantage]

You know, on the one hand I agree with you, on the other hand humanity has been given a great opportunity to look at itself, decide what it likes and doesn't about itself and make some changes. There may be some positives out of all this and at the end of the day a bike tour is neither here nor there.

I do like your optimism but I fear it won't work out that way.
The human race has proven itself time and time again to be the most stupid, wreckless, greedy and downright nasty species on the face of this planet and from my observations over how it's behaved over this bug, is only set to lower itself into the sewer even further.
But hey, it's been a nice sunny day so there's hope!

But go with your Dad whenever you do get the chance! I, for one will be very jealous!

I hope to!
He's on a 2 week break that he'd booked way before all hell broke lose and decided the other night to retire right now. No point in returning to work just for 3 more months. So he's got more time to train!

 

[cwskas]

Maybe this will help ...

 

[cwskas]

Quite impressive ... and that is only the Mexico part.

 

[HobbesOnTour]

Maybe this will help ...

View attachment 509809

I've a stalker!! 😀😀

 

[Milkfloat]

@HobbesOnTour Have you considered a plan to cut short your wonderful tour? People are actively being told to return to their home countries and the door is closing as to when that will be possible. A colleague who lives in the Netherlands just took 6 days to get home from South America. He was on a cruise around the Arctic Circle and got bounced around from country to country trying to negotiate his way back and avoid quarantine at every hop. He got pretty lucky as we have very good local contacts in each country/city he hopped through so we could help him. His main saving grace was that the ships captain when they docked in Argentina was able to claim that the ship was in fact Argentinian and therefore the passengers had already been in 2 weeks quarantine before they docked. Although you seem to be having a wonderful time, I would hate to see you stranded in a country where accommodation is fully closed and you have no way to get out.

 

[HobbesOnTour]

@Pat "5mph"
Sorry....I've some bad news.....
You'll have to postpone that visit for the time being
I've decided to stay put and see this thing out for as long as I can.

I was ready to go back to Europe (I don't know where home is anymore😊) and had flights ready to book, but I just couldn't pull the trigger.

I'm not ready to give up, just yet, and it would have been giving up.

As I've alluded to already in the travelogue, I've checked off all the things I wanted to do and the rest of my trip is about the journey - not the destination. If I never make it to "El fin del Mundo" I won't be too bothered, but if I don't make the most of this trip then I know myself and I know I will be bothered - for a long time. If staying put and looking at mountains every day is a part of my journey I can think of many worse things to be looking at.

It's become popular for some folk to jump down the necks of others in this current climate, so I'll head some of that off by saying I'll be living as a hermit and socially isolating myself so far as possible. I've discussed all this with my hosts and we are confident that we can help each other to come through this.

When I informed the Irish Embassy of my decision to stay I had a call from an employee asking if I could take a call from the Ambassador, themselves! I took it expecting to receive a bollocking, but the lady was charming, understanding and very helpful! I am so glad to carry an Irish passport!

I understand that I will shortly be "locked in" and unable to leave for an unknown period of time. My way of looking at it is that I was expecting to be on the road for another year, at least, so I can manage a few months of lockdown. Perhaps longer.

Whether I continue on when this clears up is a decision for another day. I can foresee many potential problems in certain countries further down the road. I'll cross those bridges when I encounter them.

From a practical point of view my biggest challenge will be the weather & seasons. Again, that's for later.

This was by no means an easy decision to make. Chatting to my Godson the other day he asked me when I was "stopping cycling & coming home?" That almost floored me - until I realised he just wanted someone to help with his Lego 😀 The first 24 hours after I had made it was tough, knowing that escape options were reducing by the hour. Today is better 😀

I have one more day to write up on the Travelogue but I'll check in here every now & then. If anyone has any questions, just fire away!

Look after yourselves & everyone else and as The Boss would say "See you further on up the road!"

My view 😀

 

[HobbesOnTour]

I hope to!
He's on a 2 week break that he'd booked way before all hell broke lose and decided the other night to retire right now. No point in returning to work just for 3 more months. So he's got more time to train!

I like his style!!

 

[HobbesOnTour]

Quite impressive ... and that is only the Mexico part.

You'll have to tell me how you did that!

 

[Pat "5mph"]

@HobbesOnTour I'm glad you're staying.
I really think you're safer from the virus where you are.
We are all "locked" here, I don't think I could have visited you anywhere in Europe for the next foreseeable
Keep uploading if you can, ride safe

 

[Rickshaw Phil]

@Pat "5mph"
Sorry....I've some bad news.....
You'll have to postpone that visit for the time being
I've decided to stay put and see this thing out for as long as I can.

I was ready to go back to Europe (I don't know where home is anymore😊) and had flights ready to book, but I just couldn't pull the trigger.

I'm not ready to give up, just yet, and it would have been giving up.

As I've alluded to already in the travelogue, I've checked off all the things I wanted to do and the rest of my trip is about the journey - not the destination. If I never make it to "El fin del Mundo" I won't be too bothered, but if I don't make the most of this trip then I know myself and I know I will be bothered - for a long time. If staying put and looking at mountains every day is a part of my journey I can think of many worse things to be looking at.

It's become popular for some folk to jump down the necks of others in this current climate, so I'll head some of that off by saying I'll be living as a hermit and socially isolating myself so far as possible. I've discussed all this with my hosts and we are confident that we can help each other to come through this.

When I informed the Irish Embassy of my decision to stay I had a call from an employee asking if I could take a call from the Ambassador, themselves! I took it expecting to receive a bollocking, but the lady was charming, understanding and very helpful! I am so glad to carry an Irish passport!

I understand that I will shortly be "locked in" and unable to leave for an unknown period of time. My way of looking at it is that I was expecting to be on the road for another year, at least, so I can manage a few months of lockdown. Perhaps longer.

Whether I continue on when this clears up is a decision for another day. I can foresee many potential problems in certain countries further down the road. I'll cross those bridges when I encounter them.

From a practical point of view my biggest challenge will be the weather & seasons. Again, that's for later.

This was by no means an easy decision to make. Chatting to my Godson the other day he asked me when I was "stopping cycling & coming home?" That almost floored me - until I realised he just wanted someone to help with his Lego 😀 The first 24 hours after I had made it was tough, knowing that escape options were reducing by the hour. Today is better 😀

I have one more day to write up on the Travelogue but I'll check in here every now & then. If anyone has any questions, just fire away!

Look after yourselves & everyone else and as The Boss would say "See you further on up the road!"

My view 😀
View attachment 510506

Good luck and keep us posted on how you're getting on.

 

[netman]

@Pat "5mph"
Sorry....I've some bad news.....
You'll have to postpone that visit for the time being
I've decided to stay put and see this thing out for as long as I can.

I was ready to go back to Europe (I don't know where home is anymore😊) and had flights ready to book, but I just couldn't pull the trigger.

I'm not ready to give up, just yet, and it would have been giving up.

As I've alluded to already in the travelogue, I've checked off all the things I wanted to do and the rest of my trip is about the journey - not the destination. If I never make it to "El fin del Mundo" I won't be too bothered, but if I don't make the most of this trip then I know myself and I know I will be bothered - for a long time. If staying put and looking at mountains every day is a part of my journey I can think of many worse things to be looking at.

It's become popular for some folk to jump down the necks of others in this current climate, so I'll head some of that off by saying I'll be living as a hermit and socially isolating myself so far as possible. I've discussed all this with my hosts and we are confident that we can help each other to come through this.

When I informed the Irish Embassy of my decision to stay I had a call from an employee asking if I could take a call from the Ambassador, themselves! I took it expecting to receive a bollocking, but the lady was charming, understanding and very helpful! I am so glad to carry an Irish passport!

I understand that I will shortly be "locked in" and unable to leave for an unknown period of time. My way of looking at it is that I was expecting to be on the road for another year, at least, so I can manage a few months of lockdown. Perhaps longer.

Whether I continue on when this clears up is a decision for another day. I can foresee many potential problems in certain countries further down the road. I'll cross those bridges when I encounter them.

From a practical point of view my biggest challenge will be the weather & seasons. Again, that's for later.

This was by no means an easy decision to make. Chatting to my Godson the other day he asked me when I was "stopping cycling & coming home?" That almost floored me - until I realised he just wanted someone to help with his Lego 😀 The first 24 hours after I had made it was tough, knowing that escape options were reducing by the hour. Today is better 😀

I have one more day to write up on the Travelogue but I'll check in here every now & then. If anyone has any questions, just fire away!

Look after yourselves & everyone else and as The Boss would say "See you further on up the road!"

My view 😀
View attachment 510506

Personally, I applaud your decision and think I would do the same in the circumstances. Best of luck and we'll miss your tales from the road - until they start again...

 

[HobbesOnTour]

Personally, I applaud your decision and think I would do the same in the circumstances. Best of luck and we'll miss your tales from the road - until they start again...

Thank you!
Don't worry, I'll be getting back on the road as soon as I can!