Changing travel plans: when International Affairs and acts of war throw things into disarray

It has been exhilarating and a little off-putting in the planning leading up to Overland From Oz just how much being aware of international affairs is making the itinerary a changeable proposition – even to the point of changing travel plans. Even if i wanted to, increasingly, it is becoming more difficult to narrow down how my plans are going to play out and exactly how often I’m going to have to call time out on the grounds of safety. An update on itinerary matters for Overland from Oz is long overdue in any case!

There are two areas of the trip where recent international events are coming into play.

Russia and the Ukraine 

&

West Papua and Indonesia

The situation in West Papua and Indonesia has been questionable for a while and the idea of catching trains alone through areas with such a high alert level (I use websites published by a number of different Foreign affairs departments by countries whose advice I trust on these matters). As such, I’ve mentioned in my post about overcoming obstacles that I had decided to fly from Cairns to Singapore. It felt a little disconcerting to have to give up my modus operandii of traveling only by train and boat so early on in the trip. However, safety concerns really do need to trump a desire for transportational purity (if such a thing exists) – and challenging international circumstances can result in changing travel plans.

And so we come to today, when President Putin announces that Russia is going to send troops into the Ukraine. Yes, well, riots in Kiev were one thing, a history of an earlier bloodless revolution (the Orange Revolution) another, but this declaration of intervention — no matter your thoughts on the subject — gives me pause about the sense of traveling by train through south west Russia into Ukraine, to Kiev and then through to Moldova. Yes, It doesn’t bode well – i don’t fancy voluntarily traveling into such a volatile area – call me a wimp if you like. Better a wimp, than caught in the midst of an international conflict!

Of course, my concerns are trivial compared to the plight of those who cannot do anything other than stay in their homelands which are being ravaged by war and conflict. I do not mean to sound glib, nor do I wish to ignore the plight of those in the Ukraine, or those in West Papua and Indonesia.

Changing Travel Plans

So, the changed plan is a flight from Moscow, Russia to Bucharest in Romania! We’ll see about this of course, but that’s the first step in the updated planning process.

As I always do in these updates, in the last week, NAPL has had visits from readers in Australia, United States, United Kingdom, New Zealand, Costa Rica, Canada, Italy, Thailand, India, Japan, Romania, Finland, United Arab Emirates, Mexico, Vietnam, Netherlands, Isle Of Man.

What do you think about my prospective itinerary changes?

Where you come in!

I’d love any ideas, feedback, suggestions or thoughts you might have. This is sort of a ‘choose your own adventure’ so on the  facebook page I’ll be asking questions about where you think I should go on this trip. Your comments, advice and links to other resources that might be useful will be most welcome on the posts I’ll be putting up about the whole Overland from Oz adventure. The planning is just as much part of the adventure as the actual trip!

Listening. Observing. Participating. Writing. Photographing. Reflecting.

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