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Post by kerouac2 on Feb 15, 2021 16:22:12 GMT
In 1999, I wanted to take the train from Capetown to Johannesburg, but it was the Christmas season and it was completely sold out.
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Post by tod2 on Feb 15, 2021 16:43:55 GMT
I can imagine that being so Kerouac as it was most likely the one and only train. Ha Ha! Was it the old famous Blue Train or was it the newly established Rovos Rail? The latter being a privately owned railway. I dare say that if I rang up the South African Railways there may be the odd train still carrying passengers but I would give it a miss. The safety and conditions would not be of European standards.
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Post by kerouac2 on Feb 15, 2021 17:18:03 GMT
It was the Blue train or (this name suddenly comes to mind) something called the Trans-Karoo Express?
I just looked it up and service ended in 1997, so that must have been the year that I was there.
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Post by tod2 on Feb 16, 2021 7:24:05 GMT
Yes I think it must have been the Trans Karoo. The Blue Train is the one where you get your own Batman to unpack your suitcase, bring you drinks, and help you dress in a DJ for dinner.
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Post by kerouac2 on Sept 17, 2021 9:46:38 GMT
I'm getting a yellow fever vaccination next week for future trips. No, nothing is scheduled yet.
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Post by onlyMark on Sept 17, 2021 10:57:07 GMT
Have you not needed one, as in a requirement to enter a country, before?
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Post by kerouac2 on Sept 17, 2021 11:13:03 GMT
No, not yellow fever. Some countries required it in rural areas but not if you stayed in the city.
In any case, one good thing is that it is now valid for life instead of "just" ten years.
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Post by lugg on Oct 5, 2021 19:32:03 GMT
I am a member of a few Maldives related groups and of course there is much celebration that (for the UK at least) it is now feasible to travel there again. But .... the palaver in sorting everything needed sounds painful. Even if I did not have to put overseas holidays on hold due to my gammy knee I don't think I would yet be tempted . Plus, finding affordable travel insurance that covers Covid, is increasingly difficult.
Anyway I am enjoying the photos from those that overcome the obstacles. I continue to remain optimistic that I will get there again , maybe next year.
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Post by htmb on Oct 5, 2021 20:01:53 GMT
Gosh, I’m sure you must be right about the cost of travel insurance to cover covid, Lugg. I hadn’t even considered price. That’s certainly something I’ll need to look into for future travel. I’m convinced, at this point in my life, that travel insurance is a future must for me.
Speaking of your knee, do you have any idea when you might have surgery?
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Post by kerouac2 on Oct 5, 2021 20:32:45 GMT
I got my EU health card a couple of months ago to have the same health coverage as in France for any health incident within the EU. That's a start.
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Post by bjd on Oct 6, 2021 5:56:58 GMT
What is that? I never got anything like that! For years we received a paper about EU health coverage but never a card. Is it new? Did you have to apply?
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Post by onlyMark on Oct 6, 2021 6:50:48 GMT
I think the title of this thread is rather optimistic that there will be an 'after covid'. I think it should be 'Travel during Covid'.
Anyway, I'll be doing a round trip this weekend, Bosnia to Croatia to Slovenia to Croatia to Bosnia. Need to take the mother in law back. I just hope she doesn't lose anything else until she gets home. I have found out she's lost two pairs of glasses whilst here but wasn't told about.
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Post by kerouac2 on Oct 6, 2021 11:14:14 GMT
Yes, you ask for it online through your Améli account and they send it to you. It is the size of a credit card.
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Post by lugg on Oct 6, 2021 19:58:13 GMT
Speaking of your knee, do you have any idea when you might have surgery? No not yet , I am hopeful that I will hear in the next few weeks . I keep an eye on my surgeons waiting list times , which although increased due to Covid, is not yet excessive.
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Post by fumobici on Oct 8, 2021 19:07:41 GMT
Well I said screw it and booked flights to and back from Florence. Haven't seen the house in almost two years now, there will be a *lot* of work to do. Leave November 11th and return on December 1st. If I am lucky and get well down my long list of things that must be done, I'll be back in Anghiari in the spring with simply enjoying the Tuscan foothills in the spring on top the list.
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Post by htmb on Oct 8, 2021 19:15:00 GMT
Good for you, Fumobici! Congratulations.
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Post by whatagain on Oct 8, 2021 19:38:34 GMT
I got my EU health card a couple of months ago to have the same health coverage as in France for any health incident within the EU. That's a start. Ah ? Last i enquired i needed to have a special paper. But if you didn't have it, well you oaid updrint and got refunded later But goid news if we have a card.
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Post by lugg on Oct 8, 2021 20:12:15 GMT
Congrats Fumobici on your return to your Italian house , my friend is in a similar position with her house in France and also hopes to get back there next month for the first time in two years
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Post by bixaorellana on Oct 8, 2021 21:44:25 GMT
I am very happy for you, Fumobici, and also awash in admiration over your ability to mask up for a transatlantic flight. You are far, far more intrepid than I!
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Post by questa on Oct 9, 2021 6:32:23 GMT
Have a dream...make it happen. I'm sitting here full of admiration for those of you making plans and basically saying "Stuff you, Comid, I am going anyway!" I doubt if I could get to my seat in a plane without falling down the steps or dropping my daypack on someone's head. . I have said before that I often choose my destination by the romantic sounds of its name. Well If I were able I'd like to visit Vladivostok. I came fairly close crossing Siberia but the route turned to Mongolia and I fancied going back someday and finishing the whole length from St Petersburg to Vlad. Good luck and obliging officials .
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Post by whatagain on Oct 9, 2021 8:29:45 GMT
I am now back to traveling as normal.
Riga, geneve, Paris, Compiegne, Milan, Bergamo, Antwerpen in the last weeks.
Paris and Tampere (Funland) next weeks, Vienna, somewhere deep in Germany planned fir the job.
Venice next week and Sicily next month, both with the family.
Ffp2 in planes, careful everywhere.
What is strangest is the avoidance of crowds of any kind.
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Post by questa on Oct 9, 2021 9:44:57 GMT
I had a spare hour in Dubai during the SARS epidemic during which the women dressed in Western clothes had to change into Iranian dress before re-boarding. As I dressed in my mediaeval gear including veil I saw how so many people in the huge terminal were wearing cloth masks and keeping a distance from each other. I had not taken the SARS seriously but now I saw a scene out of a B-grade movie. I was spooked to the point of hiding in the big leaves of a palm tree until our boarding call.
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Post by bjd on Oct 9, 2021 10:07:53 GMT
I was in Toronto visiting family during the SARS epidemic of 2003. There is a very large Chinese population there and the epidemic, like some others, started in China so the number of infections was relatively high there because of people returning from visits to China. The friend I met up with for a drink worked close to the big Chinese neighbourhood downtown -- we went out and the whole area was empty. We did find a place to go but it was really strange. No masks in those days and I probably wouldn't have had one anyway.
For the time being I don't have any international travel plans. I'm hoping our son in Canada and his family will come here next year rather than us having to go there. I have no problem with the idea of taking trains or buses though. Took a train back in March, even though I had to keep the mask on for 4 hours.
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Post by kerouac2 on Oct 9, 2021 14:03:24 GMT
But good news if we have a card. Mine is marked "Carte européenne d'assurance maladie" and has the 12 stars around an FR. It has my name, birthdate, social security number, a file number for my local caisse (CPAM de Paris), a mysterious very long number (good luck to anybody needing to type it into their system), plus an expiration date two years from now. No visible chip or magnetic strip, though.
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Post by htmb on Oct 9, 2021 21:08:32 GMT
No need for a chip. It was in the first vaccine.
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Post by fumobici on Oct 9, 2021 21:26:03 GMT
I am very happy for you, Fumobici, and also awash in admiration over your ability to mask up for a transatlantic flight. You are far, far more intrepid than I! If I didn't pretty desperately need to deal with house issues I'd have waited until spring, this isn't a vacation trip and having to deal with it has been nagging me for almost two years. I actually feel better about the long flight than I did about my recent short flight to SF. That flight anyone could get on, these flights you need to be vaxxed, tested negative, as well as masked. I don't think wearing a mask on the flights will be a problem, my SF flights I basically forgot I even had the thing on except when drinking my G&T.
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Post by bixaorellana on Oct 10, 2021 2:25:08 GMT
How many G&Ts does a person need in order to forget about the mask? Asking for a friend.
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Post by fumobici on Oct 10, 2021 3:22:46 GMT
Only one in this case. I have to grab a rental car and drive as soon as I land in Florence so I'll have to take it easy on the way over
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Post by onlyMark on Oct 10, 2021 14:47:44 GMT
Finished the round trip (Sarajevo, Zagreb, Porec, Ljubljana, Maribor, Zagreb, Sarajevo) and back in Sarajevo. Nice and quiet in the car after dropping off the mother in law. As soon as I got back in the apartment I noticed she'd left behind her favourite travel cushion. Why on earth she didn't think of it as soon as we set off I don't know. She'll have to do without it now until probably Christmas. Some establishments wanting a covid pass, most not, most not bothering with masks, a few still doing so.
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Post by kerouac2 on Oct 10, 2021 15:15:47 GMT
I think that in every country, a lot of places are now having "rule fatigue."
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