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You can lose everything, but nobody will take away what you saw and what you experienced...
............ 
Mar 05, 2021 10:00 PM Addis Ababa after 45 years...
I must adjust to the altitude... Addis Ababa lies on the level 2350 m above the sea! Strong sun shines during the day, but in the night temperature drops down to 12 degrees Celsius!
When I was here in 1976 it was rather quiet, low-rise city. Now they built here 20-storey hotels and apartment houses. That's what I see from my window: traditional life in the single-story houses under the palms and the skyscrapers just behind them. But they still do not have the street numbers and side-streets has no names. So the best way to find my White House Hotel is to say "100 m behind Abissynia restaurant". This traditional restaurant is well known (not for me) and has uniforned guards at the gate - see picture.
A lot of poverty is visible on the streets. But the beggars are not aggressive. A big roll in the bakery costs 12 birr, kilo of bananas - 25 birr. I will survive!
For one USD they pay 40 birrs.
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Mar 03, 2021 10:00 PM Smell of Africa
The express train to Vienna aiport cost me 4.20 euro - I was running to the main hall of Hauptbanhof to buy the ticket. It is the shame, that they do not install any ticket machines on the wide platforms! Rude train attendent asked me to wear seciall model of the face mask - FFsomething. Are they crazy? 17 minutes later I reached deserted VIE airport. Depressing view - only one check-in stand open! They checked my COVID test. OK! No single shop or bar open! Ethiopian dreamliner was dirty - so you know that they transport Africans. 6 hours flight, one hot meal, two beers (their wine is very weak). We landed in Addis at sunrise. Visa on arrival costs 50 USD. Welcome to Black Africa! Yes, this continent has a special smell. I bargained with the taxi driver - he took me for 150 birr to my little hotel in the no-name street with no pavement and full of water holes. Local ladies bake the coffee beans on the side walk. I need the rest!
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Mar 02, 2021 10:00 PM Across Poland by train...
It was still dark when I boarded the train in Gdansk at 6 am. Why train? You know that I am the budget traveller! And I found the cheap connection. First to Warsaw, then to the southern border of Poland - I was not sure if my second train heading to Budapest will cross the border or I will walk from last Polish station in Chalupki. Lucky me! As the only passenger in the car I went through the frontier to Bohumin - first station in Czech Republic. Nobody controlled me! But I saw on the bridges over border river Olza Polish police squads blocking the entrance for Czechs to Poland....Because the pandemic - so high in Czech Rp... My train did not continue to Budapest...
Ok, I am now at the Bohumin station waiting for the train to Vienna. I hope this one will depart!
In Vienna there will be very limited time for the transfer to the airport. Fortunately I have already the boarding pass! Let's hope and be optimistic. New adventure just started! :)
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Mar 01, 2021 10:00 PM New voyage starts tomorrow!
These were probably the most difficult waiting hours in my life. The backpack was lying next to me - already packed, and I still didn't know if I will go. I waited with my nerves for the result of the PCR test, which is necessary to open the for me the way to Ethiopia. The test could not be done too early, because it is only valid for a certain number of hours. To make matters worse, two days earlier, after injecting me with the first dose of the COVID vaccine, I got a high temperature and symptoms similar to those I experienced while ill with COVID in November. I was afraid that the disease had come back to me after all... I have just picked up the test result and breathed a sigh - it is good!.
I was in Ethiopia for the first time in 1976 - 45 years ago! The Ethiopian-Eritrean war was going on then and not all provinces of this interesting country were available to foreigners. Since then, I thought about going back to Ethiopia to see at least the unique rock churches in Lalibela. And here I go - against the pandemic and all adversities. The design of my route is marked on the map with a blue line.
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Feb 21, 2021 10:00 PM Winter Wonderland
Finally we have white winter in Gdansk! The sun is shining and we have the temperature just few degrees below zero. My Wojtkówka (see picture) sleeps under the snow.
And I am counting days till my covid vaccination date.
Why? I plan to escape just after ... :)
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Jan 28, 2021 10:00 PM View from the window
It is snowing today in Gdansk. I am watching the winter landscape through my window (see picture) thinking about the next voyages. They will be possible only after I will be vaccinated against covid. I already signed for, but the first available term was on the last day of February. So I must be patient... Let's be optimistic!
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Jan 24, 2021 10:00 PM Back in sweet home, but quarantined
When I landed in Warsaw it was obligatory to go through the immigration control. The young lady (she could be my granddaughter) who was in charge was arrogant and not ready for any discussion. - You have to stay 10 days at home on quarantine! - But I am already covid convalescent and the test confirm that I have antigens and as result I am covid - resistant! No discussion!
So I took the flight to the grey Gdansk. The temperature in my city was plus 1 deg. Celsius. Days are still short... Now I can only remember the palm trees of Egypt, the blue sea and the sunny desert. It is hight time to plan the new expedition. When and where to? Who knows? But I am optimistic!
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Jan 22, 2021 10:00 PM Flying to the snow...
Transfer from the hotel to the Hurghada airport is included, but they wanted to be ready at 4.30 am! It is one bus collecting passengers from many hotels one by one.
We reached the airport before the sunrise - at 5.30. I passed through the first screening just at the entrance, then check-in. They wanted the covid insurance document for Ukraine - even if I will be only in the Kiev airport! Fortunately I had one, valid just the last day.
Do not forget to take from check-in window the departure card. Once you'll fill it you can go to the passport control.
Second security screen is terrible - they wanted me to take the shoes off (no metal in the shoes at all). There were a lot of body touching - not a pleasure, then they collected all liquids from the packed breakfast I received in the hotel.
Finally I was able to enter new departure hall. The flight was on time and was full. It was the same 767 I arrived to Hurghada, but I had now a little better seat.
After 4 hours in the air we landed in snowy Kiev. Bye-bye African sunshine!! I am waiting for the connection to Warsaw.
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Jan 21, 2021 10:00 PM Dancing Friday
Sunny day with a blue sky. No wind.... And what a surprise! The management of our hotel invited a group of local Arab musicians. At a lunch time they performed traditional music and dances on the open terrace. Local foobd was also served and we had really good time.
Unfortunately it was my last day in Hurghada... Tomorrow I will be flying back to Europe.
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Jan 20, 2021 10:00 PM They take care...
The sun is bright but from the morning we experience strong wind... The guests in the hotel I stay do not wear the anti-covid masks, but for all staff it is obligatory to wear them. In addition three times per day, when we are entering the restaurant our temperature is checked, and registered in the big notebook (in Arabic!). Apart from the dozen of foreign tourists there are Egiptians in our hotel. For breakfast they eat fool - made of red beans and kofta - little meat cutlets. The rest of the buffet is European... The food they serve is fresh and tasty.
It is nice that they offer a lot of fruits and vegetables, brought from the fertile Nile Valley.
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