Recap of 2019

2019 was a great year from travel perspective. In general, I travelled more than I could write. Some number crunching before I proceed further:

• New countries visited – Mexico, Australia, Italy, Vatican, Peru, Bolivia, Chile, Myanmar
• Repeat visits to countries – USA, Netherlands
• New states in India – Manipur, Tripura
• New seven wonders of the world – Chichen Itza, Colosseum and Machu Picchu
• Number of days spent in travelling – 55 days

Here is the recap of 2019.

January

I went on a short trek to Huliyurdurga with Subbu and his friend. We planned few more treks, but they never materialized.

February

A busy month. I was in my native place for my cousin’s marriage and managed to add a personal visit to Bandalike. I then went to Pittsburgh in USA on official travel and managed a personal visit to Mexico visiting Chichen Itza and other Mayan ruins.

March

A short trek with Wido and Santosh to Ratnagiri fort in Tamilnadu.

April

Family trip to Australia for 10 days covers the places near Sydney, Melbourne and Uluru. I managed to get a cheap ticket on Scoot airlines.

May

I was in USA and Netherlands on Official visit. I got a weekend in between which I went to Ohiopyle near Pittsburgh and Niagara falls.

June

No travels.

July

A short visit to Rome and Vatican.

August

I had planned lot of places during Monsoon. But due to heavy rains and flooding, all plans to western ghats were put on hold. Instead we went to Talakona falls, Horsley hills and Tirupati.

I was invited by Dandeli.com to visit Dandeli Jungle camp and Old Magazine house.

Sankara and I went on a trek to Bhasmangi fort in Tumkur district.

September / October

I was in native place for Ganesha Chaturthi and utilized a day to trek to Bheemeshwara waterfalls.

I was in South America again this year. This was the longest trip (25 days including the days of travel) and I visited Peru, Bolivia and Chile. The timing of the trip was perfect. A week after my return, Chile entered into a chaos resulting in widespread riots and finally resulting in a call for referendum to change constitution. Almost at the same time, election results in Bolivia were botched up. This led to people revolting against the President. He finally had to resign and flee the country.

November

A free month.

December

Chaya and I went to places around BR hills on a weekend. It was a family time during Christmas where we visited the North Eastern states of Manipur and Tripura with Sankara and his family.

Highlights/Lowlights of this year

• Unlike last year, I ensured that all travels were spread throughout the year.
• As a deviation from last few years there were no travel cancellations that led to loss of money.
• A long solo trip.
• Focus was mainly abroad travels. Weekend travels came down to a large extent.
• None of the western ghat plans materialized due to floods.
• CAA riots put a question mark on our trip to North East. Finally, the trip went very well.
• 8 new countries visited.
• I had to bunk few family functions because of my travel. It was not deliberate, but few events slipped out of my control. I heard remarks like “You have time to travel around the world but cannot come for our function”. I have promised myself not to get into that mode. 2020 may see me attending family events like a normal guy!!

Plans for 2020

There are few plans which I am finalizing. Let me see how it goes.