when being safe is not good enough

I do not often sneak out of town. But I did on Sunday.

My monthly flights between Manzanillo and Oregon have not salved my travel itch. When I moved to Mexico, one reason I chose living here on the Pacific coast was ready access to an airport that would allow me to travel as much as I wanted. And I have wanted to do a lot.

I have yet to spend a full winter in Mexico since 2007. That has traditionally been my travel time. And, with a bit of luck, I thought I could slip in a cruise out of Puerto Rico last month and an Antarctica cruise out of Argentina later this month.

Well, it turns out I did not have a bit of luck. First, the cruise line notified me in early January that my Antarctica cruise would be cancelled. And, then, you know what happened to the Puerto Rico cruise (don't be so positive). The day I was boarding my flight to San Juan, my covid test came up positive.

I am not a quitter. With a bit of patience, my covid test eventually returned to negative, and I was ready to roll again. That is why I am now in Oregon for a week -- assisting my brother with Mom's finances.

That hardly meets my criteria as adventurous travel. Interesting. Utilitarian. But not envelope-pushing.

I had lined up a flight and hotel rooms for something that would be a bit more my style. Two weeks in Ukraine in mid-February.

But just as I was finalizing the details, my cousin Dan called to ask if I would like to join him and Patty for two weeks in Yucatan. Instead of facing down Putin, I will now face down a plate of cochinita pibil and trek through the ruins of several Mayan city-states. It will definitely be a better deal.

As they say on late-night television, but, wait, there's more. I had almost forgotten that I had scheduled a series of cruises with my friends the Millers.

• 17-22 April: Los Angeles to Vancouver
• 30 April-7 May: Miami to Miami with stops in Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Curacao, and Aruba
• 16 September-2 October: Vancouver to Tokyo
• 26 January 2023-13 February: Cape Town to Dubai with stops in East Africa and the Indian Ocean
• 23 April-8 May: Miami to Rome with stops in Spain and France

If all goes well, and that can mean almost anything these days (like avoiding war, pestilence, and famine), I will also try to schedule a trip in the summer to San Miguel de Allende for the Chamber Music Festival. Or maybe I will just go to the highlands to see what I can discover. There is always something new to me to be found.

And, of course, there were be trips to be had around my home town of Barra de Navidad -- and an exotic trip or two with Dan and Charlie Patman.

What travels do you have lined up?