More Travel Plans

I recently got a history department grant to go examine some manuscripts in the British Library, so I'll head for London in July, at the same time as this conference. This time, I plan to avoid losing my passport, something over which I'm still kicking myself.

As I've said before, I'm also heading to Jerusalem in the fall, though as the Hebrew University academic year doesn't start until late October, I'm first going to take a couple of weeks and make my first venture into Central Asia. As a medievalist, I first had my heart set on Uzbekistan, where I could see Samarqand and Bukhara and get by with my Tajik Persian. However, as the Uzbek government is apparently being really stingy with visas for Americans, I've decided instead to try a multi-country tour, starting in Kyrgyzstan to look in on the aftermath of the Tulip Revolution, and then heading to Kazakhstan and something in the Caucasus - probably Armenia, if the flights work - before returning to Israel.

If all goes according to plan, then six months from now my visited countries map will look like this:



create your own visited countries map
or vertaling Duits Nederlands

There's still a lot of blank space there, though I also need to look in on the Gulf and Turkey during next year, and Cyprus and Malta will each make a nice long weekend at some point.

UPDATE: Actually I'll be flying Turkish Airlines, which doesn't go to Yerevan. My Caucasus stop will have to be Baku. I hate politics.