If you know me, you know that I am not one to discuss politics. I think it was Elisabeth that said that this was not good small talk, and I agree. Why would you bring this up in a group that you are not familiar with, and especially when we (by we I mean the US) are currently in a climate that is less than stellar?
However, I have been in an area with some political things happening lately! In Georgia, the country, not the state, you may or may not know that they have been having protests lately. I actually got a notice from the US State Department warning me of this and I did look into it to see if this was something that should keep me from traveling there, but it is not currently a dangerous situation. However, I want to say clearly that the US State Department is in the business of covering their donkeys, and often ramp up the warnings at the slightest provocation. I have been to several countries where they have had some sort of warning against traveling there, and I have been totally fine.
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| Ilia State University, Tbilisi |
Currently Georgia is on the Level 1, "exercise normal precaution" list, which is the top (best) one. However, Türkiye, where I just was, is on the "exercise increased caution" list, as is the UK FYI. And my favorite, Columbia, is on the "reconsider travel with higher security risk areas to avoid" list and several parts of Mexico are on the "do not travel" list. You can find the current travel advisory map here. Obviously Russia is on the "do not travel list."
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| Current map (June 2025) |
So I have some things to say about Russia. Firstly, the other day I was 3.7 km (2.3 miles) away from the border, which is the closest I have ever been to Russia. In addition, there are two parts of Georgia that are still occupied by Russia. I have been around a lot of Russians lately, as the countries that they can travel to at the moment are few, and also the proximity to Russia to where I have been is close. So that brings me to these questions. Do you know the details of the situation between Russia and Georgia? Or any of the other former USSR countries?
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| There is a large mountain in between |
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| FYI, creepy shirtless guy took this photo for me. :) |
Or what about the history of Yugoslavia? Do you remember hearing about Serbia and Bosnia and Kosovo on the news? Did you know that it was only in the aughts that some of them broke free from the regime (Serbia and Montenegro did not dissolve until 2006!)? That area has had a lot of conflict. I was in Albania in 2010 and the host at my lodging in Saranda was talking about the recent civil wars. Did you know that they were warring as recently as the late 90s, basically just over 10 years before the time that I was there (PS it was probably on the "do not travel" list at that point!)?
All of these things make me realize how small my world really is, all of the things I have not learned, things I do not know, and people whose stories I have not heard. And the more I travel, the more I realize this. When I was in Türkiye, I went to a ruined town called Ani, which sits right on the current border with Armenia. I could look across the river and wave at the Armenian side. However, this land was at one point part of western Armenia, and they had their own dialect, and the town of Ani was a strategic trading hub for them. Currently, you cannot cross the border from Türkiye to Armenia by land, as the relations between the two countries are not great.
I later went to Armenia and learned a lot more about the history there, but also, while I was there I had a conversation with a woman from Iran about the current situation and how she had to travel over land for 24 hours to get a flight from Yerevan (the capital city of Armenia) because all flights from Iran (in and out) have been canceled. There were many Iranians seeking refuge in Armenia when I was there (you can read more about it here), and once again, this made my world, and all of my "problems" seem small.
I will not talk about being on one side or the other, or believing in one political thing or another. What I believe in is the importance keeping our minds open to learning new things, and listening to the people who are living through or have lived through things that I cannot even imagine. As I have mentioned once or twice, I also believe that people are inherently good, and I refuse to believe that all of one group is bad just because there is a bad apple in the bunch. Lastly, I will once again say how grateful I am that I am happy and healthy, have clean drinking water and a toilet, and that I am able to travel and learn more and more every day.
Are you well versed in world history? Have you spoken to anyone who has been through any of these conflicts? Would you travel to a country bordering Russia right now? What was the last thing you learned that you thought, "wow, why didn't I know more about this already?"
I am not well versed in history, to my shame, but my father is a walking treasure trove. He has a boggling amount of factual information, but he also understands the strategy. I wish I could transplant all of his knowledge into my own head.
ReplyDeleteThe world is huge and yet also so, so small. I think that's one of the beautiful things about travel is it brings into sharper focus how small the world really is. How interconnected we all are. And how deeply and permanently conflict can alter relationships and even physical geography.
My husband travels to Finland regularly and can see Russia out of his office window!!
Well, at least you got something positive out of your interaction with creepy shirtless guy. That's a cool picture!
So you are basically saying that John can see Russia from his backyard. I mean, that it what it sounds like. Literally. :) I did get some photos from creepy shirtless dude, but I did have to crop his thumb out of all of them, so there is that. My mother is like your father, and can remember the darndest things. My mind is like a sieve, so likely I have learned a lot and already forgotten it, so it seems new (yay!) again!
DeleteI fully agree with you that people are generally kind and not evil, I choose to believe that. I am not following the news but sofia has a friend currently in israel for holidays and had to hide in camp. she's keeping sofia informed, quite scary for a 12 years old.
ReplyDeleteThat is scary for a 12 year old! Wow. I read a book called Ground Zero which is a YA book about 9/11 and it was about a young boy who is in the twin towers when they are hit. It is very graphic, but real, and scary and I thought it was maybe a lot for a 12 year old, but it happened and kids had to go through it so I think it is very eye opening!
DeleteI’m not overall well versed in geopolitics but I do think traveling abroad has made me more aware than I would otherwise be. For example,
ReplyDeleteI traveled in Bosnia & Herzegovina about a decade ago and although I vaguely remembered hearing about their conflict in the 90s, visiting gave me the opportunity to learn a lot more and hear about it from people who experienced it (I remember having two different tour guides around my age — so who who were also in their early teens during the height of the conflict). I’ve also been to Colombia a couple times and again went from just knowing that it had been an area with significant violence when I was a kid/teen to hearing about it firsthand. Also, I too take travel warnings with a grain of salt. Other countries warn their citizens about visiting places in the US that I feel fine in so I try to keep that in mind (though TBH at this particular moment in time I would rethink visiting the US if I were an international tourist!).
Oh, I would be interested to hear where other countries tell people not to visit in the US (besides the entire country at the moment) and to see if I have been there and if I thought it felt dangerous. I mean, I lived in Oakland and that was supposedly the murder capital of the world for a while. I survived! :)
DeleteI agree with you about Bosnia & Herzegovina; it is so interesting to hear it from someone who went through it, especially if they are your own age, as that makes it seem more impactful to us, as we can (try to) imagine what it would be like if that was us. I worked with a guy from Albania in NY who is about my age and when we first met he said where he was from and I told him I had been there and he said, "WHY?" because they tried so hard to get out, and get to the US. Same with my cousin's wife, who is from Bulgaria. When I asked her where I should go, she was amazed that I would WANT to go there! Interesting, right?
I have both a BA and a MA in History and would not say that I am particularly well versed in a lot of history. I'm just OK at 19th century US and British social history. I remember when I first went to Ireland and they talked about Catholics and Protestants killing each other and I figured it probably fit into the English civil war (1600's) and then I was SHOCKED to learn it was in the 1980 not the 1640s!
ReplyDeleteWhen I went to China in 2009 I remember talking to some chinese people who told me "yes, I think hitler may be bad, but Japanese people are the most bad from world war II" and it made me realize how proximity and culture totally define how we see the world. Also, I did not know much about the China-Japan part of WWII. Maybe I am just bad at history... but this is why traveling is good for me.
Totally agree! When I lived in San Francisco, my roommate was Japanese and we used to go into a store owned by a Korean guy and he told us (her) that his people hated the Japanese! I was astounded, because the Japanese are so mild mannered and sweet! Ha! Then I read books about the way they treated the Koreans and Chinese and I realized that I KNEW NOTHING! Traveling is good, and reading is good. We should all do more of both!
DeleteI took ZERO history classes in college and I kind of regret that but I would have had to take Western Civilizations which I heard was incredibly boring and required a lot of paper writing, but I took sociology classes to fulfill my humanities requirement (I loathe writing papers so so much).
ReplyDeleteWhen I did a 2 week program in France during grad school, the professor that traveled with us was from what was formerly Yugoslavia. When we chatted with her outside of class in more informal settings, she talked about the odd feeling of your country no longer existing and all the ramifications that has. We also have a neighbor on our block that we are getting to be very good friends with how is from what was formerly Bosnia. His family were political refugees. He did not speak English when he moved here and said he learned quite a bit of English from watching tv. It all makes me realize that I have not experienced true hardship compare to many others!
The son of my former colleague, Paul, was studying in Ecuador 2 springs ago. There were a lot of terrible headlines about the state of things in that country and I asked if Paul was nervous about his son's safety. He said his son said everything was totally fine. Paul reminded me that the headlines about Minneapolis during the summer of 2020 probably make it look incredibly dangerous and yet we never felt unsafe where we lived (we did have friends that lived closer to the area where things were quite bad and they did spend a few nights in a hotel since they have young kids and wanted to be extra careful.).
I can't say I would visit anywhere close to Russia right now but I have barely traveled compared to you so I have a long list of places to go to first, like Italy, Spain, France, etc!