Travel impossibility

I seemed to have uncovered a travel impossibility after some intensive research for an impromptu trip I was trying to plan.  Judy’s parents are going to be in the Dominican Republic for a couple of weeks (escaping the Long Island winter) staying with family and I was endeavouring to plan a surprise visit.

Of course, given the political climate in the United States I did not want to be routed via any American city so was happy to choose other options.

My planning began with a flight from Sydney to Santiago (Chile), then onto Puerto Plata (Dominican Republic).  A couple of issue arose with this route.  No seats from Sydney to Santiago, nor were there direct flights into my destination from Santiago.   Okay, easy peasy I’ll try a different multi-city route.

Next, I tried via Mexico City, then Panama City but no luck.  With each of these first three the second flight wanted to take me via Miami, Dallas or New York.

What about via Europe?  I began with via Amsterdam, but again they wanted to take me via a US city before flying onto the Dominican.  Same for flights from Madrid, then London, then Paris, then Lisbon…

Okay if I couldn’t fly directly into Puerto Plata then perhaps I could fly into a different airport in the Dominican and drive to Puerto Plata.

Still no luck from any of the routes I had previously tried.

So, then I tried going via the Middle East (Doha, Abu Dhabi, Dubai), or via Asia Hong Kong or Singapore but with every combination (yes, it took me a couple of hours to exhaust all these potential route combinations on a variety of sites including directly with airlines) but each was unsuccessful.

Clearly, there isn’t a method from Australia to the Caribbean without hitting a major US city, but I suppose that makes sense given that it’s the most popular method for getting to the Americas is through an American city gateway.

I would have assumed that there would have been more options via South or Central America from Australia, but not so much!

This travel impossibility was quite vexing to be honest, as I do not want to visit the US with its current political climate or with a fascist regime in power.  I can already see myself being detained and likely held for a long period or perhaps shipped off to some foreign country given my views and social media posts…

Don’t get me wrong I love America, but in its current form not so much.

So, what to do?

Judy and I have discussed options and will likely hold off on visiting her parents and family in the Dominican Republic for the time being, but on our next overseas trip explore options from the place we’re staying.

Our next trip will be an extended one – anywhere from one to three months in length with Europe likely being the CenterPoint of our trip.

With Sam located in London now, Judy has relatives in Paris and Valencia so each of the locations will be included in our trip.

There are several moving parts with Judy’s Australian citizenship the rules are clear that she must be in the country when she applies and remain here until the application and formalities are complete, which includes taking the citizenship test and being sworn in.

We also agree that it will be important that she gets her Australian passport prior to our trip as we don’t want any complications flying on an American passport.

Once these hurdles are out of the way we can then finalize our trip.

Well, beyond the travel impossibilities of the Caribbean we’re planning to head back to Europe for an extended stay.  We have eyes set firmly on a month in either Sardina, Sicily or southern Italy (Puglia region) to get into the swing of living a local life and all that that entails.

We really enjoyed the Gallipoli region in Puglia during our last visit and in particular the seaside village of Santa Maria al Bagno but are open to other areas in Puglia as long as it’s close to the Mediterranean – ideally within walking distance.

In terms of Sicily, we’re thinking about the northern coast at the western tip near San Vito Lo Capo or Cala Rossa as they have incredible beaches with awesome hiking close by.

After one of these locations, we’re planning on exploring France, then Spain before London and the UK, but of course Sam could come stay with us wherever we are for a long weekend or short vacation depending on her work.

I know that if we were in the Dominican Republic we’d be either staying in the mountains or by the beach as Judy’s family have homes in each of the locations.  When I say the beach, I mean you walk out the front door onto the beach.

We’ll get there it’s just a matter of when!

Until next week.

Ciao!