04.04.20

Our intrepid traveler finds himself in Puerto Morelos, Mexico, and his likelihood of escaping anytime soon is very, very low…

Being a travel writer that can’t travel is like being a cook without a kitchen; a race car driver without a car. It was a shock to the system to see borders shut down one by one and seeing isolation and staying home as being the New Norm. But, like many things in life, this current scenario is outside our control so we must make the best of it, right?

The good news is that we are forced to slow down, to reconnect with friends remotely, and also to get things done. I see people committed to working out with video exercise programs and classes and it seems lots of people are enjoying COOKING again! I see postings of terrific dishes and people are willing to share recipes, which I think is great. And some are finding humor, which is much appreciated these days! We’re sharing photos, jobs we may or may not have had, truths and falsehoods about us that we want others to guess, and a host of other idle time killers to keep us occupied and distracted.

Since I also have time “on my hands” I have totally updated TravelYounger.com and all the “Places I’ve been” is current, as is my Blog! If you’d like to see what has happened over the past few months just hit the blog link at my web site. We will be here for the foreseeable future. The city is amazing even though many restaurants and businesses are closed, and unfortunately, so is the beach. For now. They just taped it off a few days ago and so far we have not tested the enforcement of the rules. No doubt they are trying to keep crowds contained so they may not hassle a couple of older Americans. We’ve been here for two weeks so our quarantine time is over, and we got some heat from mostly local ex-pats who said we should have not come here. No doubt they were fearful of us bringing a bug with us, so I hope our healthiness has made that concern go away.

In the last 14 months of travel we have not looked for a “home,” since we usually stayed for just six weeks or less. But since we will be here at least for 90 days- or more- we signed a lease and have an option for a year, so we may just keep it and use this location as a base since the rent is crazy cheap. We are in a gated complex, feel safe, and there is a constant breeze which makes the environment beautiful. We have lots of room, 2 bedrooms, and even though wifi is iffy and the stove puts out barely more fire than a match, we will deal with this inconvenience, just as we have had to deal with others since we left the US in February 2019.

I am reviewing scores of videos of our travels and will be posting them on a regular schedule, plus creating some special reports with fun things to share. Stay tuned for “Hey, hey here’s the monkeys!’ which will be a picture compilation of all the monkeys we ran into in Thailand and Cambodia. Since I was enamored with Angkor Wat I’ll also be doing a guide on that based on our Real-Life experience. This containment will end, and people will want to travel- I know I will! Since we’re in Mexico for who knows how long, Central and South America make sense, so I’ll keep an eye on border openings and health status.

I have also cleaned up and updated my YouTube channel, and will be adding lots of videos there along with sharing them in my Facebook blog and website at TravelYounger.

Meanwhile, stay safe, stay healthy and keep a positive outlook on how things will be BETTER when this crisis passes.

#mexico, #puertomorelos, #coronavirus, #covid19, #travel, #traveling