Decision, decisions...
We’ve been considering the multitude of different ferry crossings into Africa for a while now … Our decisions have been changing dynamically on the fly as we’ve made our way further down south….
We’ve discussed how much of the Rif (the north African area)
we’re likely to be able to cover with the time available to us. We don’t know
the road structure of where we’re going, nor the condition of the roads...
Tony had planned Russia to the nth degree, informally
applying rigorous project management methodologies of risk
mitigation/management techniques, etc. (oh my, do I miss work?!). This trip has
ended up being anything but the planned trip we first set out on and, as such
(yes “ as such”), a very different way to how I think our Anf is used to
travelling. All of this considered, I’m awed and inspired by Tony’s calm aura,
calculated decision-making and, most of all, his patience and sense of humour;
we’re still managing to laugh with one another as we navigate this minefield of
options.
We’ve tried to step things back fairly simplistically: how
long is it going to take us to get home… A week? More? Less? Well, where do we
want to stop on the way back north? I’m feeling very, very fortunate to have
the freedom and means to travel like this. Europe feels like our playground.
Anf ant never been to Gibraltar before so it’d be good to
take him there on our way home. (An aside: did you know the water there don’t taste
like it oughta?) Monkey I up on the gert rock, innit!
He’s also never visited the D-Day Landings. I used to live
in Normandy, in what was referred to as the French Venice. It’s a beautiful
place that has a big ol’ chunk of my heart. I’d love to show him Pont-Audemer’s
charm (and to visit familiar faces if they’re in the hood).
And then there’s Mont Saint Michel that Anf ant never seen.
So much to explore and experience. :-D
OK Maybe we should consider how we get home first and work
backwards from there. Do we:
- ferry from Santander?
- ferry from Bilbao?
- ferry from Ouistreham?
- ferry from Le Havre?
- ferry from Caen?
- ferry from Cherbourg?
- Eurotunnel?
- ferry from Calais?
- ferry from Dunkerque/Dunkirk ?
So many options are not good for someone who can’t make
decisions!!!
The options have been plentiful for crossings from Europe
into Africa too. Do we get across the med from France (Marseille) or Spain? If
Spain, where do we cross from? Alicante, Almeria, Motril or Malaga? (Beady eyed
geographers will notice I’ve ordered these in north to south; we’ve been
crossing them off as we’ve made progress further down the continent!).
Without Tony, I would really be in a spin on this trip. I
need to glean some useful techniques for decision-making from him and retain
this healthy way of thinking when I’m home. Hmm? Stream of consciousness? Where
was I…?
Another set of options, perhaps? Go on then: where do we go?
(Theme tune). Do we go to:
- Tunis (Tunisia)
- Algiers (Algeria)
- Nador (Morocco)
- Melilla (Spain)
- Ceuta (Spain)
- Tangiers (Morocco)
Those beady-eyed geographers will also notice I’ve ordered
these from east to west, and I’ve not included many of the other options we’ve
had to play with!
Hopefully you’re getting the idea by now of the endless
possibilities and the hundreds/thousands of combinations that could shape this
trip.
In order to make a decision on where to go, we needed to
take stock of:
- where we are
- what day it is (to calculate when we are likely to get home)
- what the covid travel restrictions are in the place we’d go to (Where do we need a PCR? Taken within how much time before we travel, etc.?)
- what the UK travel advice is for the place we’d go to (Tunisia’s eastern and southern borders are in the same red category as Russia at the moment - i.e. not advised to travel there)
- what borders are open (all entry points to Morocco seems to be closed, with ferry crossings suspended)
All of this to say that we’ve decided to go to Melilla, the
Spanish enclave where I used to live back in 2009. As we’re crossing from Spain
to Spain, this seems to be one of the simpler options, all the while getting
into Africa. Once we’re there, we’ll chance Morocco…
Tony and Stace, chancing borders, one week at a time. From now on, you can call us the Border Chancers (or, as Tone prefers,"we're just winging it!").
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