Iraq

Photo Link:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/2seJ1iErU3yyP5D97

So, Iraq. To be honest, even beyond the history (Babylon, Ur, Ctesiphon, Samarra), I really wanted to go simply to push myself. It is probably the most “out there” place I will ever travel to during this 4 year travel stint (well, hopefully not! Want to do a guided tour with Iran with my dad next year, and I’ve also read that Syria has recently opened up for foreigners). Weird analogy, but like how I enjoy difficult hikes as it pushes me to my limits there, I feel like my “skill” as an independent traveler was pushed by visiting Iraq. I do also have a weirdly morbid fascination with being “close” to danger – ie I loved skirting along the Afghan border when in Tajikistan right after the Taliban took over – I feel like it just spices up the trip. I guess there is an element of chasing the forbidden fruit here as well…if you tell me it isn’t allowed or possible it just makes me more interested. Beyond that, the history nerd in me has always wanted to go to Iraq, and that combined with the “recent danger” aspect made it irresistible. Though obviously I have my limits…I’d never consider going to an active warzone, just one that has stabilized recently. On a more practical level, I was already in the area, and got cheap-ish flights from Yerevan and then to Athens. Figured that Iraq was as safe as it’ll ever be in the next 2 years of travelling, and I can’t say for sure if I’d ever be able to visit so easily in the future as well, so I took the jump. If anything, I think seeing Iraq now has made me very optimistic for places like Syria, Afghanistan, Ethiopia, and Yemen, where it shows just how quickly a place can rebound to where they are safe for foreigners – not to mention where locals are able to live again, and you have flights full of foreign nationals coming back to visit their families as was the case for my Qatar Airways flight. I honestly found Iraq to be maybe marginally more “difficult” to travel in than Central Asia or Sub-Saharan Africa (not counting South Africa which is obviously easy to travel in). One thing that did make travelling in Iraq easier than it otherwise would have (besides the locals of course) was that this might be one of the best countries I have been in for T-Mobile coverage…strong 4g pretty much everywhere, even in the random countryside while driving between cities. I will say that the people of Iraq are by far the nicest I have ever met while travelling. And I have been to some great places where the locals were incredibly helpful…South Africa and Jordan are the two that stick out for me, but Iraq really was on a whole different level.

But yea, this was definitely by far the most research I have ever done for a trip. This blog post (https://www.quitandgotravel.com/2021/06/15/iraq-independent-travel-guide/) was invaluable for planning, and I also reached out via Facebook and Instagram messaging to a couple of people I have met in the past who had been to Iraq this past year just for tips and information. Beyond that, the “Iraqi Travellers Cafe” facebook group was incredibly helpful, as I got in touch with some locals after posting about my trip there. Iraqis are genuinely the nicest people I have ever met while travelling…the cynic in me says a part of this is because they want to give the country a good reputation so more people visit, but still. Just incredible hospitality and willingness to meet and show around a total stranger. I unfortunately only had a week in Iraq since I am meeting my high school friend Steve in Greece, so I was only able to loop around the South. I would have loved to go up to Mosul to see what that city looks like now, as well as the ancient ruins of Nineveh, Nimrud, and Hatra near there. Iraq is probably only the second place I have been to, after Myanmar, where I wished I had more time after the trip ended (not counting places like the US, China and India which have months worth of travel in them, or Bali when I was forced to leave because of COVID because I still would classify the different parts of Indonesia as different trips). One thing I also really liked about Iraq was the lack of English knowledge. Obviously the people I met on the facebook group were not representative of Iraq – they were younger, wealthier males who were fluent in English. But the average Iraqi doesn’t know any English and that added to the fun of travelling here. Only place I’ve been to where there was even less English is probably my very first retirement tour stop in Shanghai/Suzhou/Nanjing/Hangzhou in eastern China. And honestly in terms of safety – I have been more worried when travelling in places like Latin America or Sub-Saharan Africa where muggings are a real risk, while here in Iraq in terms of what you can control as a traveler it is very safe (like all Arabic countries…not sure if it’s cultural but at least as a male, Arab countries are incredibly safe to travel in). I guess this was a sign of good overpreperation, but Iraq honestly was not difficult at all to travel in, and I never once felt even a bit unsafe (which I absolutely have in Central America and Sub Saharan Africa, like how I met people in literally every country I went to there who had been mugged at gun or knife point). If you are comfortable travelling with big language barriers and armed troops everywhere (honestly not as bad as it seems lol), then you can do Iraq.

Anyways, the flying in process was very straightforward. Flew from Yerevan to Qatar to Baghdad, paid 77 USD for a visa on arrival, and then took a cab to my hotel (no hostels in Iraq, which given the lack of tourists obviously makes sense). I was meeting up with a friend who I had met in Egypt last year. She’s an older woman (in her early 40s) and a freelance journalist who bounces around while working, but as confident as I was in travelling here I figured it would nice to have a crutch and travel with someone else in a place like this. But it was a pleasant surprise for me that I was basically the one leading during the entire trip, which is a good thing to know if I do ever make it to a place like Syria. As an Indian with sunglasses I might have been able to get away as a local, but she is a black American so I lost any hope of blending in…not that it mattered, since my accent and lack of Arabic knowledge would have outed me anyways. I had a few hours before her flight got in, so explored the backstreets of my hotel where I actually ran into a couple of Syriac Churches, which I thought was pretty neat. Also walked by the square where the statue of Saddam was toppled back in ’03. Kind of funny in hindsight that my first impression of Baghdad was it being a dead city due to the Friday lull that happens in all Islamic countries…Baghdad is a nightmare with traffic and just crazy chaotic. Got back to the hotel to siesta for a little since the 4am flight from Yerevan led to a slight lack of sleep, and then soon after Miranda arrived, Dhurgham, a local from the FB group, picked us up and drove us around a bit and also took us out for dinner. I kind of hate myself for coming in with these stereotypes, but I was actually surprised at how “normal” Baghdad was, even though I shouldn’t have been – literally everyone who has traveled to Iraq talks about how skewed the Western media is of Iraq, and that’s a big reason why the locals here are so helpful, to help change perceptions. For what it’s worth, everyone who travels to Iraq also talks about the generosity of the locals but despite knowing that I was still taken aback. But Iraq has a late night culture, so we were driving around and hanging out in restaurants, cafes, riverside walks, and the likes til about 1am, and it was still packed outside. The only reason we ended the night at 1 was because Dhurgham is a medical school student who is currently in rotations, and had a 16 hour shift the next day starting at 7am. That he was even willing to hang out for 7 hours until 1am the night before this with someone he had never met before is mindboggling. We had a really good dinner, dish called Quzi, which was almost like a better version of Central Asian Plov. Roasted chicken that melts in your mouth sitting on top of a cashew nut rice mix. And at the cafes, we just spoke to random groups of Iraqis sitting by us – their English wasn’t as good as Durgham’s so he was translating for us, but they were all genuinely happy to meet Americans and talk with us. Gotta say that the tea here in Iraq is probably the best I have had outside of India, since they actually use spices (lot of cardamom), as opposed to just leaves with hot water.

The next morning, just walked around Old Baghdad for a few hours. Honestly, I absolutely loved it. It’s legit the closest I have ever seen to Old Delhi (outside of India of course). Just pure controlled chaos. One cool thing was all the street vendors had these prerecorded messages blasting on loudspeakers, which (I assume) were just blasting out what they were selling, and this allowed the vendors themselves to conserve energy. I had never seen this before in any bazaar setting but it was honestly really smart. And added to the atmosphere of just loud noises coming from all directions…just amazing. I actually shocked myself by crossing the streets and weaving through traffic a few times while texting and not even looking up…I really am a local in these chaotic countries. I just feel so at home in these types of settings. It wasn’t quite to the quantity of India, but there were a good amount of street stalls selling sweets – my favorite was this gooey sugar/flour sweet that was topped with crisp coconut shavings, called Daheen. Also had this same sweet a few more times in Iraq with different toppings like pistachio. The sweet culture here was like in Jordan – while obviously behind India, still just fantastic overall. The streets were all lined with decrepit buildings standing on pillars, buildings that clearly were fancy and nice back in the day but now were dilapidated and dusty. That particular look really reminded me of cities like Mumbai or Cairo – sort of that faded glory look. Saw two other tourists here in this really cool old alleyway. A shop there was selling tons and tons of golden plates, candles, daggers, etc. It was like straight out of Aladdin or like the “romantic” imagery of the Middle East. When I see these types of stores in places like Egypt or Jordan or Uzbekistan I dismiss them as tourist traps, but to see it in Baghdad where there aren’t really tourists just made it all the more special. And another example of Iraqi generosity – while walking around, a cop motioned me over (the city, and country, is rife with security, which I guess is the only thing that sticks out from the “normal” feeling), and asked if I was Indian. I said American, he smiled, and then gave me a free bottle of water. Throughout my week in Iraq, I took countless selfies with random heavily armed officers and soldiers who wanted pictures with foreigners. Baghdad might honestly be my third favorite city that I have been to in 2021 so far, after Mexico City and Amman. Talking in terms of “liveliness” here – obviously I enjoyed (for example) Samarkand more, but that was as an open air museum while Baghdad was for like the city itself, and its people and restaurants and all that. One unfortunate thing about Baghdad was that the Iraq National Museum – which has a ton of cool shit from all the Mesopotamian ruins – is currently closed.

Anyways, after a bit of walking around, we got back to the hotel, took a Careem (Iraqi Uber app) to the bus station, and then took a 2hr cab ride down to the city of Hillah, which is where the Babylon ruins are located. The garages (as long distance sharetaxi stands are called) in Iraq are an experience. When you pull in, every driver is just shouting their location and trying to get people to join…it’s almost like a bazaar. I’m just thankful that they didn’t borrow the repeating loudspeaker technique that actual Iraqi bazaars use. Shared the cab with two other local women, so I was sitting in the front (#MiddleEasternGenderNorms). On the cab ride there, we had to go through a security checkpoint. To avoid stopping (security checkpoints are easy, but if there are foreigners then it just delays the trip as the guards go through a few more checks), the driver gave me a cigarette. Apparently, with my brown skin, sunglasses, lit up cigarette in hand, and a haze of smoke in front of me, I could pass off as a local at a quick glance and the security guards waved us through without stopping us. Got to Hillah and was then picked up by Ali, a 30 year old electrical engineer who I also met in the Facebook group. He immediately offered to host us – again, Iraqis are SO nice – and drove us to his parents’ place, which was a legit mansion that really reminded me of the nice big houses you see in India (maybe all of these India comparisons are also because I miss it and am planning on going in Jan/Feb). We met his parents, two younger sisters (in their 20s), and horde of cousins (all like under 10). His mom was an adorable grandma-like figure, who insisted that I leave with a box of these delicious Iraqi fig cookies and boxes of chocolate milk when we left the next day. Ali then picked up a couple of his high school buddies, and we all got Masgouf for dinner – this is the Iraqi national dish, and is a giant 5kg grilled carp that is coated with tamarind and eaten with a naan-like bread and vegetables. Absolutely delicious. Honestly, Iraqi food is awesome. I would say it’s quite easily the second best cuisine I have had this year, after Mexican of course. Ali’s cousin owns a wedding hall, so we went there after dinner (was like 11pm at this point) and they brought drinks, and we just hung out there drinking until like 4am. One really interesting thing here was that there were a bunch of girls wearing hijabs, but drinking heavily with all of us. Ali’s friends were also quite good with English, and it was just straight up a very enjoyable night.

The next morning, we woke up around 12pm, ate a delicious breakfast that his mom cooked for us, and then headed out to the Babylon ruins. Saddam unfortunately built these dumb reconstructed walls over the current ruins, but there was still some good stuff at this site. Because Ali and his buddy were clearly proud of their Iraqi heritage, I didn’t even bother trying to tomb raid and find coins/pottery/etc. But it was awesome to visit Babylon, the home of ancient kings like Hammurabi (an eye for an eye) and Nebuchadnezzar. After Egypt, this (and Ur) are probably the oldest ruins I will ever visit. While the original Ishtar Gate is in Berlin, there were still original carvings of mythical animals here, and some original bricks with cuneiform written on them! Ali also showed me a brick that had a strong coat of the original blue coloring, which was pretty neat. Another highlight was a ~3000 year old statue of a Lion. Saw a total of 5 other tourists here which was good to see…Iraq really deserves more visitors. After about an hour or so in Babylon (it’s a small site, the vast majority is completely unexcavated and under the rolling hills…I wonder if the Tower of Babel aka a Babylonain ziggurat is hidden here), we drove up to the abandoned palace of one Saddam Hussein. This was a really cool 20 minute stop – I love modern ruins so it was neat to see this, and the views over the Babylonian ruins were gorgeous. We then a late lunch/early dinner, and then Ali arranged a cab to go to the Kifl Mosque before ending in Najaf (~90 minute drive in total) – Kifl was about halfway there. It’s a straight up rural mosque so it was cool to see Iraq “proper” here – definitely very different vibes, just seemed more religious and conservative. But this used to be a synagogue and is allegedly where Ezekiel from the Old Testament is buried, so took a look there. It was decent but just a cool experience to visit a holy Islamic site in the Iraqi countryside. Honestly kind of badass.

While in Hilllah at Ali’s parents place, I noticed a christmas tree that was up (in late October!!). I asked him about it, and he gave an unexpectedly poignant answer – that given all the wars and destruction Iraqis have endured, they look for any excuse to celebrate life and have adopted Christmas as a secular holiday. In many ways, I think this also applies to the overwhelming generosity of Iraqis when they meet foreigners. But that statement also made me realize that quite literally every single adult that I interacted with in Iraq has lived through numerous conflicts and trauma. I really do think that visiting Iraq would make even the most hardened cynic have more faith in humanity.

So Najaf is the third holiest Shia site (after Mecca and Medina), and is where Ali’s tomb is located – Ali being the person the Shias viewed as the rightful Imam (he was the Prophet’s son-in-law) back in the day which caused the entire Sunni/Shia split. Walking around there the following day was pretty cool – reminded me of the Golden Temple in Amritsar (for Sikhs) in a way. The place was absolutely inundated with pilgrims. The mosque itself was actually quite gorgeous, but was unfortunately under heavy renovation so there was scaffolding galore, but I did manage to snag some pics. I am pretty sure people there thought I was like a Pakistani pilgrim or something because they knew right away that I wouldn’t know Arabic, but sheparded me through. I didn’t correct them so I awkwardly went through some Islamic praying motions before leaving the mosque. The interior had no photos allowed, but was all glitz – mirrors and gold everywhere. After seeing Ali’s tomb, the other main sight in Najaf is the world’s largest cemetery. Walked around here for an hour or so, and it was pretty cool. Just a massive place where there were neverending rows and rows of tombs. Overall, not a *highlight* of Iraq per se but seeing a holy pilgrimage site was definitely worth it.

After that morning/afternoon in Najaf, we took a 5 hour bus ride to Nasiriyah in southeastern Iraq. This was a public transport bus as opposed to a share taxi, so we got stopped by security while leaving Najaf and while entering Nasiriyah. When entering Najaf in our cab, we showed security our American passports and got through in a second. Leaving Najaf however took a couple minutes while the befuddled guards looked at our American passports, but the locals on our bus spoke with the guards and they let us through. About halfway there, the bus stopped for a snack stop, and one of the local dudes bought like 2kg of fresh warm Iraqi sweets for the entire bus. A bit later, entering Nasiriyah was a little more annoying…the security stop there took like 30 minutes, as countless guards inspected our American passports. Eventually, they asked if I knew someone in Nasiriyah – I called one of the guys I was talking to from the Facebook group, who lives in Nasiriyah but was in Basra at the moment. Anyways, he picked up, spoke to security for a minute, and then they waved us through…so the deal here was that apparently, until recently foreigners needed a local contact to enter the city. My Nasiriyah contact said that this was no longer a requirement but some guards might be unaware, and to call him if any issues came up, and he was thankfully able to assist (even though I had never met him before!).

The next morning, we headed out to the Great Ziggurat of Ur, which was the main reason to visit Nasiriyah. Arguably the primary reason I love to travel is because I am a history nerd. And a big, big reason why I’m a history nerd was because of Dr. Dorman’s 9th and 10th grade AP World History classes (technically 9th grade was pre-AP but he basically taught it as an AP class). Literally the first unit we learned about in 9th grade was Mesopotamia, and among the many things I still remember from that unit – Babylon, Assyria, Sargon of Akkad, Hammurabi, Uruk, etc. – the one that always stuck out was Ur. So it was definitely really cool to actually go and visit this ziggurat and other nearby ruins in person. Obviously the ziggurat was nowhere near as grand as the Pyramids of Egypt, but still, it is of a comparable 4k+ year old age. Also saw more cunieform here! Again, nowhere near as grand as the hieroglyphics of Egypt, but these are older. I think Egypt is a good parallel…the monuments there are obviously far, far more impressive and grander than in Iraq, and of a similar age (with these two countries having shit that is way older than Greek, Roman, Indian, or Chinese stuff), but the added effort of visiting Iraq makes Iraq better than Egypt for me. But yea, the ziggurat was pretty neat. While there, a local employee started following me and talking to me (since there were no other tourists), and his English was shockingly good. While this prevented me from scavenging for pottery shards, his story was cool – his grandfather was a part of the original excavation team in the 1920s, and his family has lived in the area of the ziggurat for “generations”. And because in Iraq there are security checks every time you both leave and enter a city, we had to go through security while leaving Nasiriyah for Ur. They wrote our passport info down so they knew to expect us returning in an hour+ or so, so the security this time was easy. And the cab driver insisted that the ride to Ur and back was free as a “gift” for us because we were visiting, so we had to insist to pay him his fare.

After Ur, we got a ~5 hour sharetaxi ride back to Baghdad. I sat in the back with two other local dudes, who were excited when they found out I was American and spent like 3 of the 5 hours talking to me via Google Translate. And because this was a taxi with other locals (like when we went to Hillah) as opposed to a public bus (like when we went to Nasiriyah), getting by the security checkpoints was a breeze as they just waved the car through. In both cases for this trip, I was also given cigarettes to smoke when approaching security, so I really do think that my skin color + sunglasses + cigarette smoke helps blend in…or at least, the drivers seemed to think so. I messaged Ali (in Hillah) about this and he found it hilarious, and said it was a good idea, for what it’s worth. It’s also kind of funny that over the course of this entire Iraq trip, I probably drove like 800+km on public transport across the Iraqi countryside with zero issues, considering the dangerous reputation of the country.

Got my PCR test on Wednesday morning (Iraq requires negative tests for all exit flights which is dumb), and then took a half day trip to Taq Kasra to see the ruins of the pre-Islamic Persian city of Ctesiphon, which is under an hour south of Baghdad. Of course, the site was completely shut down and fenced off, and no amount of persuasion could change the guard’s mind. And the kicker was that based off the road and fence layout, I couldn’t even see the famous arch, just the side brick walls. I guess that’s one of the pitfalls of going to an area like Iraq…hard to find up to date travel info. I guess if I had messaged any of my Iraqi contacts beforehand they would have told me it was closed, but I guess that’s sort of my fault? Didn’t really see the need to give them my day to day itinerary. Anyways, came back to Baghdad after that ~2.5 hour, 30USD cab roundtrip, and then walked over to see the Martyr’s Monument, which was about an hour+ outside of Old Baghdad (which is where the hotel was). Keeping up with the day’s theme, this monument was also closed for nebulous reasons that the guards could not provide. I guess having days like these makes sense when you are travelling in a country like Iraq. And not like it was THAT big of a deal because the things I would have added (Mosul + Hatra/Nineveh/Nimrud) would have taken a couple of days, so a waste day wasn’t that big of a deal.

On my second to last day in Iraq, I got up early and headed to the bus garage to grab a ride up north to the city of Samarra for a day trip. Miranda couldn’t make it because she was working remote all day, and this turned out to be a blessing in disguise with regards to the security checks. According to all of the research I did, Samarra is notorious for being the toughest city to enter with security checks, partially due to the fact that it is controlled by a local militia and not the government. It took two hours to get there via sharetaxi, with me in the front and 3 locals in the back. We whizzed by the first three checkpoints with the soldiers just nodding us ahead – I didn’t even need a cigarette here! For the final checkpoint, they checked everyone’s IDs for every car, glanced at mine, and then took my passport and gave me a security card which I then used to show to the numerous security checks within the city…I swear I saw over a 100 soldiers in just this small city center, so a far higher density than I have seen in Baghdad or anywhere else in Iraq. Even though I clearly have a US passport, my sharetaxi driver referred to me as Indian (I had to disclose my passport to him before boarding obviously, so via Google Translate – a lifesaver in a country like Iraq – he said that saying Indian is better for Samarra). Somehow, despite the fact that the border guard saw my American passport, he accepted this and called me Indian as opposed to American. The Samarra security posts also kept referring to me as “the Indian” (in Arabic, obviously) as I passed through all the checkpoints while walking around the city and flashing my card, so I guess word spread quickly about my appearance. Honestly, it felt like straight out of Call of Duty or like one of those Hollywod espionage movies walking around this heavily occupied town/city and just doing my thing. I had a plainsclothe’d officer tailing me the whole time to make sure I didn’t go anywhere I wasn’t supposed to…not sure if he was trying to be subtle or not, but he turned out to be a cool dude. Before I left, I went back and offered to buy him his lunch so we ate together before I left Samarra. He knew broken English which he learned from working with the US Army back in the aughts, and said the militia “sort of” works with the federal government though obviously I didn’t push here. It was perfectly safe – he was there to ensure my safety, which is always a good thing, and I honestly felt bad wasting his day which is why I offered to buy him lunch. Would have loved to take photos of the streets of Samarra but figured that taking photos of the military, especially when they had my passport, was no bueno.

The first thing I saw in Samarra was some holy Shia mosque where an Imam from back in the day was buried. I think they thought that I was an Indian Shia pilgrim, so I once again entered the mosque and fake-prayed my way through…must have been convincing enough for my handler since he didn’t bring up anything at lunch afterwards. This was just as bling-y and gorgeous as the one in Najaf, and once again had that Persina/Uzbek style (I didn’t take as many pics because I wasn’t sure if it was kosher, and hadn’t noticed my handler yet so I couldn’t ask him). The only difference between here and Najaf was that the interior in Najaf was more golden while here it was more silver-y.

After this, I walked over to the main attraction, the giant minaret of Samarra that is ~1300 years old. It was about 1km from the holy mosque, but took half an hour due to all the security checkpoints where the officers cheerily greeted me with Indian shouts, like “Shah Rukh Khan!” (he’s the biggest actor in Bollywood and basically a God out there). Got to the minaret and it was awesome. It looks just like every European painting of the Tower of Babel ever…I feel like it definitely influenced it. 52 meters tall, with a giant spiral staircase winding its way up the minaret from the outside. It looked flat out cool and the walk up and down was also fun, especially since there was no railing on the outside. The view from the top was nice – could see the remains of the medieval city of Samarra, which is apparently the world’s largest medieval city and like 99.9999% unexcavated. I tried in vain for about half an hour to talk my way into visiting these ruins, but the militia would not budge. They claimed that undiscovered IEDs were on the road there (the ruins stretched for like 5km north of the minaret), but I think they were just overcautious about protecting “the foreigner” – I am fairly confident that if I had hired a guide from Baghdad and drove up with him, we would have been allowed. This also would have set me back at least 300 USD (Iraq is expensive! My total trip, not including the 77 USD visa, was just over 500 USD for the 8 nights). Regardless, got a sharetaxi back to Baghdad, and I got my passport back while exiting the city and trading in my security card. The other passengers got intrigued by me and loved the fact that I loved Iraq (needless to say, we passed through the other security spots without being stopped). They also insisted that I play Indian music from my phone, so I played the few Bollywood bops that I had downloaded to please the crowd, and they seemed to really dig it.

Miranda flew out that Thursday night, and I had one last day in Baghdad before flying out to Greece to meet up with Steve. Sort of just chilled in the hotel (paid for a room because I will be leaving at 10pm for the airport), walked around the historic area a bit (though because it’s the holy day of Friday it was dead), and planning on getting dinner tonight with Dhurgham and Sajat (Nasiriyah contact who got me in the city, have yet to meet him) before bouncing for the airport. Honestly, Iraq was wonderful. I found it easy enough to travel but it was clearly a place that requires effort to travel in, if that makes sense. I would comfortably place it on-par with Jordan and behind Guatemala, Tanzania, Tajikistan, and Uganda (but those 4 are like all-timers for me) in terms of my 2021 travel. That might sound like a lot, but 2021 has legit been the best year of travel so far…besides those 5, other highlights include Vic Falls, Glacier National Park, and of course both Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan. I would say my 2020 highlights were Myanmar, Tamil Nadu, Bombay/Ajanta/Ellora, Arizona/Utah, Yosemite National Park, Chernobyl, Egypt, and Namibia. And my 2019 highlights being East China, North India, Ladakh, Cambodia, and Hampi (only 4 months obviously so a bit less). Retirement has been everything I could have dreamed of and more, so I am excited to see what else lies in store. Right now the plan is to see Greece and Italy with Steve through the end of November (with Martin meeting us for 5 days in Rome with some of his LBS buddies), and I do want to see England in Jan to visit Martin and some other travel friends. Also want to go to India to maybe do one more regional trip there + a tiger safari and nearby sights (Sanchi Stupa??), before going back home end of Feb (booster shot???) and then Puerto Rico early March for a wedding. I also have it in my head that I will go to South America for the period between that wedding and Burning Man. So I guess just December thru early Jan is open right now, will most likely be in Europe but we’ll see.