No Travel in 2020

I think the most disappointing thing about 2020 (due to Covid 19) will be no travel. I was supposed to go to England in July and Hungary in September. Probably some in-country travel, too. Who knows when normal travel will resume, if ever. 911 changed travel. Covid 19 might, too.

I've been fortunate in that I've been able to travel considerably during my life and as part of my career. I've traveled more than most, less than some. My first international trip was to the Soviet Union in 1990. My most recent trip was to Belgium in 2019.  I have many favorite trips. Lots of pictures. Incredible memories.

It's been almost 30 years ago since I visited the Soviet Union, one year before the republics went their separate ways. I had applied to participate in a student exchange program between the University of Maryland (College Park) and Timirazev Agricultural Academy (in Moscow). They had a hard time getting participants, so I applied, along with someone else who wasn't a student.  The program lasted a month. It left lasting impressions.

Red Square, St. Basil's Cathedral

A few months later I was part of 3-person team that traveled to Hungary to consult on a major agricultural investment that involved sheep dairying. The trip was sponsored by a Hungarian-born American businessman. I went with  my current boss, the Assistant Dean of the College and Director of Extension, and a vegetable specialist (now retired). We had a grand time. It was the first time I rode in the front of the plane (business class). They called our accommodations a castle, but they were more like a manor house. Regardless, we were pampered.

The next year (1991), Mom and I took a trip to Europe.  We flew into London and out of Frankfurt, Germany. We spent the first five days in England, before taking a hovercraft to a port in Belgium, where we boarded a train bound for Cologne, Germany. After spending the night in a tiny little hotel room, we picked up a rental car (BMW) and started down the Rhein River. We spent most of our time in Austria and Germany, but had a few excursions into Switzerland. We went on the Sound of Music tour in Salzburg, loving every minute of it, being the sappy Americans we are. One of the highlights of Bavaria (Germany) was Mad King Ludwig's fairy tale castle:  Neuschwanstein.