I love to travel, and I love to write about my travels.
We arrived in Azerbaijan via the overnight train from Tbilisi, which was cheap ($20) and easy. It left Tbilisi’s Station Square at 8:40 pm, arrived at the border just before midnight, and made it to Baku by 9 am. We had already applied for an e-visa for Azerbaijan ($55), which we printed out in Tbilisi, and they do the immigration stuff on the train. We had a 4-person sleeper berth which was fairly comfortable, aside from being super hot for a couple of hours before they turned off the heater.
Ranked as #193 in the world as far as tourism, it’s not easy finding information on Comoros. But since we were in the Indian Ocean area, Chris and I were determined to visit. After much research into finding a flight, a plan began to come together. Here’s all the information I could gather, in the hopes that it helps other travelers who want to see this seldom-visited island nation.
As Chris and I looked at flights out of Mauritius and into Comoros, we found that most flights made use of the Johannesburg airport. Since we have friends in South Africa, whom we have not seen since we left Khartoum in 2011, we decided to stopover for a week and visit the area.
We arrived in Johannesburg, connected to Durban, and were picked up by our friends Paula and George. It was great seeing them and reminiscing about our days of the Khartoum Hash House Harriers and the crazy adventures we used to get up to in Sudan. We stayed with them for four relaxing days, and explored the area near Durban.
We had planned to go to Central Asia after India, but since it’s cold and wintry there in February, we spotted a cruise that was visiting four Indian Ocean islands. After considering the prices for lodging, meals, and airfare to such remote places, the cruise turned out to be a good deal- being flexible with our dates, we were able to get a heavily discounted fare for an upcoming sailing. We signed up- and got a free $50 onboard credit from Expedia!
If the sea level continues to rise at the current rate, the Maldives will be the first country to cease to exist due to climate change. At 2.4 meters, it has the lowest high point in the world. Made up of over 1200 islands grouped over 26 atolls, it is the smallest country in Asia by both population and landmass. It is the first country in the world to aim to be carbon neutral by 2020, and tourism and “green taxes” provide a large source of income for the islands, which have seen tourism numbers double over the past ten years. Even with the threat of rising sea levels, there is still quite a lot of economic a activity going on here, such as skyscrapers being built, artificial islands being created, and metals being mined.
PalmTreeMusings 