Arthur's Blog: Three 2012 New Year's Resolutions That Didn't Make the List for 2013

In my New Year's Resolutions relating to travel, appearing a week ago on this website, I listed 12 plans for improving my vacations in the year ahead. Those were four less than I proposed a year ago for the New Year of 2012, and a discussion of the reason for the omissions might be appropriate.

At the end of 2011, I pledged that:

I will make very effort to travel to countries whose demonstrations and protests have been for the purpose of achieving democracy, but occasionally at the cost of losing their tourism. Egypt is among the nations deserving our visits, and for other reasons the Asian nation of Myanmar -- at last moving towards decency -- deserves our tourism, too.

I have recently concluded that tourism to Egypt is not yet reliably safe, primarily because of a breakdown in policing -- and this, despite the fact that a great many recent visitors report that their own trips have proceeded without incident. If everything goes well on a trip to Egypt, it appear superficially that conditions are normal for tourism. But the moment an emergency occurs -- an accident, a threat, a possibility of being robbed or hurt -- it appears that the local police of that nation are simply not available to protect the tourist. This is because the police are so hated by much of the population that they generally stay out of sight and unavailable. I would myself not travel to Egypt at this time, and I can't recommend that others do so.

As for Myanmar, the path to democracy in that country has proven uneven and with considerable bumps, and it is not yet certain the military will really give up their total power. Too much sporadic violence occurs, too great a tension is now felt there, to enable most people to make the trip. And in terms of finding accommodations for your stay, it appears that Myanmar's limited hotel capacity is totally filled by various avaricious entrepreneurs hoping to make favorable deals (for mineral rights and the like) with the powers that be. I will myself wait until further evidence is had that Myanmar is now an acceptably safe destination.

Two other of my travel resolutions for 2012 -- both of them, admittedly, made somewhat in jest -- have been criticized (and rightly so) by a number of readers. One was a pledge that I would occasionally change into pajamas on an overnight, transatlantic trip. That suggestion wasn't found to be realistic. And the other, more reasonable one, read that:

I will try to emulate my daughter's policy of limiting her luggage to one small carry-on bag. I will remember that on numerous trips, I have actually worn only a fraction of the items that I have carried with me in a large suitcase.

Too many readers have responded that they simply would not want to make even a short, week-long trip with only one change of clothing, which was the inevitable prospect of my resolution. And I, on reflection, tend to agree.

So there you have the reasons for a more limited list this year. And I will look forward to reading any further travel resolutions that you may have. 

Best wishes for a happy and healthy 2013!