A Life of Travel: Should I Move to Cyprus?

1. My hip and travel. If it wasn't for my aching hip, I'd be making some travel plans right now. Or at least making progress towards finding a new home base. But I still need to stick around the US for an MRI and possibly some surgery, so until that's all taken care of, I'm stuck in one place. Being stuck in one place is not something I'm used to and as a result, my mind is going wild with travel fantasies these days (Caye Caulker, Belize and Malaysia keep popping into my head...every day).
    
2. Cyprus. While by no means the winner, the island of Cyprus has rapidly risen to the top of my 2022 potential home base list. Portugal was #1 for a while but after diving deeper into their residency requirements, it no longer appears to be a good option for me. I'm a big fan of Cyprus though, especially the small beach town of Larnaca. It's laid-back, friendly, has excellent food, offers a great standard of living for an affordable cost and it has a large community of foreigners from around the world who live there. There's also beaches and nature galore with a location that's surprisingly convenient, with easy connections to much of the world. Again, no decision yet, but it's a very good option right now. If you've spent time there, let me know your thoughts!
    
3. Istanbul and Morocco. My first two Wandering Earl Tours of 2022 are already sold out. And there is currently only 1 single room available on my Wander to Istanbul trip in March and 1 shared room spot (for a male) available on my Wander Across Morocco tour in May. Get in touch if you're up for a seriously memorable adventure!

1. Entry fee for Venice: Starting sometime soon, Venice will charge foreign tourists to enter the city and bookings will need to be made in advance.
    
2. Entry fee for Thailand: A 300 Baht entry fee will soon be added to the cost of airfare for foreigners flying to Thailand. It will also need to be paid if entering by land. But paying the mandatory fee gives you insurance that provides compensation if you are injured or worse while in the country.
    
3. Country name change: Turkey is now officially called Türkiye.

all things travel

50 Events You'd Want to Attend
From butterfly migrations to mime festivals, from art and music gatherings to unique celebrations you probably never imagined would exist, these 50 events around the world are worth traveling for.

The Food Timeline
Get lost in this delicious food timeline that shows exactly when pretty much every kind of food ever known to humankind became a food. It starts with water and ice (pre-17000 BC) and ends with cronuts (2013). Enjoy!

Earth Roulette
Not sure where to travel? Earth Roulette will take care of that. Click the button and the website gives you a random travel destination, complete with highlights, when to find the cheapest airfare, local activities and photos. The first time I tried I got Thiruvananthapuram, India, which sounds great, although I've already been.

Norwegian Fjord Hopping
I recently had a conversation about the magic of the Norwegian fjords. Then two days later I found this collection of articles about the fjords - village highlights and descriptions, day trip ideas, sights to see and more. I'd love to get back to Norway and visit more of the country!

A Library From Trash
When trash collectors in Ankara, Turkiye started finding books that people were throwing away, they decided to create a library instead. The library is now home to over 60,000 books that were once about to be discarded.

Poland From the Sky
One local photographer from Warsaw, Poland takes us on a video and photographic journey of his home country, from the sky.

Stained Glass House
In the center of Tbilisi, Georgia, on a random, narrow lane, sits the city's only stained glass house. It's now home to an artists' workshop and a small store selling local products. We visited this house on our recent travels to Georgia and it was indeed beautiful.

Little-Known Egyptian Village
One small village in Egypt is responsible for 60% of the world's jasmine production...and it's starting to become a tourist destination.

The Tallest Statues
It's not something I ever wondered about but it proved to be interesting nonetheless - an animation that depicts the sizes of the tallest statues in the world.