Travel Newsletter - 8 January 2021
Notes on Nha Trang, off-roading Siberia, and hikes around the world.
Hello from Long Xuyen in the Mekong Delta region of Vietnam. I’ve been out exploring, so publishing the newsletter is a good excuse to take a break from the afternoon heat.
This week I have a new post at Nomadic Notes, plus the usual round-up of travel reads from around the web.
Latest posts at Nomadic Notes
Notes on Nha Trang – pandemic edition
Notes on Nha Trang - Visiting Nha Trang in 2020 during the pandemic, and seeing how the international travel ban has affected the tourism industry.
COVID-19 and travel (or lack thereof)
Life without Covid: the nations that have sidestepped the pandemic so far
How flying will change in 2021
Golden ticket: the lucky tourists sitting out coronavirus in New Zealand
Jakarta socialite reportedly booked entire flight to Bali as precaution against COVID-19
Assorted travel reads
Russian off-roaders crossed 2,000 miles of Siberia to reach one of the most isolated cities on earth
“We’re in the autonomous region Karakalpakstan, in the once thriving fishing port of Muynak. It’s a searing hot July afternoon; the thermometre is pushing 50°C. Good thing then, that we’re on the southern shores of the grand Aral Sea. We’ll just run into the water for a quick dip, to cool down. Except…”
In old Bangkok, a goddess resists a wave of gentrification
World's safest, and least safe, airlines for 2021 named
German royal palace reconstructed to become Humboldt Forum on Berlin's Museum Island
Japan has most powerful passport - but it’s meaningless during Covid
“In normal times, Japanese citizens would be able to visit 191 countries visa-free.”
Without tourism, life in a Tuscan village slides back in time
“The sharp drop in visitors since the start of the pandemic pressed this small community in the hills of Chianti to cling to the essentials: the pharmacy, the food store and agriculture.”
Lisbon’s startup scene rises as Portugal gears up to be a European tech tiger
“A curated list of long distance hikes around the world.”
This site has an expanding database of hikes around the world, sortable by distance and region.
And related to hiking (or saunters as some prefer to call them), is this Lonely Planet article: Travel trends for 2021: long-distance hikes.
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The Travel Newsletter by Nomadic Notes is a weekly newsletter of the best travel reads and interesting travel news, and random ramblings by the editor.
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- James Clark