What countries do you want to visit?

OVERSEAS VISITATION – NOT NOW

For me in 2023, this is a topic that is almost juxtapositional.

I need to reflect upon the topic from both a historical and contemporary point of view.

Going back through the years, and always with our young family, we travelled quite a lot both around Australia and overseas destinations. Visits included New Zealand, West Timor, Bali, Malaysia, and later when our children were growing up for us as parents came a quite long trip to the United Kingdom.

Our trips were always leisurely and quite lengthy. Along with our children, we learned a lot about overseas places and enjoyed our associations with people we met along the way.

To reflect upon our travels would take many many thousands of words. Suffice it to say our excursions are well detailed in my diaries.

The juxtaposition comes about through the question asking which countries I would like to visit in 2023.

The answer is“None of them“.

My reluctance about Travel is in part fuelled by advancing age but not altogether.

When we used to travel by plane, airports were unhurried the plane travel itself was quite comfortable with plenty of legroom, and the whole exercise was not overburdened with anxiety.

These days, airports are hopelessly overcrowded, support by staff for baggage handling and check-in is minimal with passengers having to do it all themselves. Plane schedules are often interrupted by delays and cancellations, and time spent on the aircraft is generally in ever smaller and more cramped spaces as companies try and fit more passengers – almost by shoehorn– Into spaces that most certainly have shrunk.

Metaphorically, those at airports are herded and drafted like sheep, while their cramped seating conditions on aircraft remind me of battery hens in cages.

There are issues with visas, huge costs associated with disembarkation and re-embarkation charges, visa costs, innate suspicion of travellers in some countries, the begging and beseeching placed on travellers to support the local economy by spending and spending, and, possibly the worst thing of all, the overcrowding and congestion by people and inordinately long queues everywhere.

All this means I am in the country I want to visit- Australia. And I have been visiting since 1946.