WHERE IN THE LUCK IS THAT?

Today I decided to write about something which doesn't have to do with the news of the day here in Buenos Aires and to give all a break. But so much has happened here in the past 24 hours that it is very hard but I'm doing it!
I've been very lucky in my life. And for many reasons. While I do believe in the luck of being in the right place at the right time, I also believe that we must "develop"our luck and turn it into a lucky situation. This is what I think I have always done. While the most pious amongst us might pray to God for a solutions ...and wait, I'm more of the philosophy that "God helps those who help themselves".
Luck in business and investments..  No, you won't find me in Fortune 500 or  in a lear jet with Bill Gates or Donald Trump( but who'd really want to be flying next to them, anyway?) but I can't complain! I have 2 beautful residences in Prague and Buenos Aires and can do pretty much what I want to do.
Luck in meeting fascinating people and making phenominal friends, I won the lottery there! Of course, once in a while, I didn't hit the jackpot and have even had to dig deep in the coffres to get out, but those times were few, fortunately .
Luck in love..well, better to have loved and lost then to never have loved at all! Of my 4 "great" loves, one has a high diplomatic position,(and is still alive although not in touch); one  most likely is dead from alcoholism in Poland, and 2 did tragically die way too young to enjoy later years of life and for me to enjoy it with them, too. I sit alone, but happy, writing these articles and not willing to compromise my happiness just so that I don't have to go to bed  or wake up in the morning alone. Is it really worth it I ask you? But that's for each perosn to decide.
 But luck in travel, both through work and of a personal and private nature which has allowed me to visit more than 125 countries in the world, I truly have!. And  I mean 125 real countires. I'm not counting Alaska, Easter Island, Galapagos Islands, Sicily or Corscica as seperate countries... if I did, then I'd be far above the 150 mark. I don't count Cyprus or Turkey as 2, classify my trips to the Antarctic into 7 or  nor  do I consider my many trips to Great Britain a 7 country jouney as some organizations do in order to make their members feel even more priviledged and to sign up and pay those annual fees.
As a travel professional, I have traveled all over the world but since the majority of my years were with US based companies, they were very sensative about the destinations. Sure, a few times there were places I lead groups which might not be  100% politically correct such as Burma (aka Myanmar), Libya or the former USSR. But then again, which country does not have stains of blood on its past or current  history pages? China, South Africa, Chile, Japan, Switzerland or the land of liberty, the USA??? NO, NOT A ONE!
But there was still an imaginary border line which the travel companies didn't cross for fear of protests, boycotts or personal safety for their travelers. And it's to these places which  I am often drawn the most.
This is also why, most of the time, I travel alone because most people want to revisit London, Paris  and Rome or even Kenya,  Greece or Thailand before venturing to those other places of which no one has heard.
And that's why I go to these places which often time but more often the rest of the world has forgotten  about or didn't even know they exist.
In 2010, I went to the three Guyanas: Guyana (Former British), Surinam (Former Dutch and French Guyana(still French). Many people had and still have no idea where they are. I' d say Guyana and they'd imagine me off in West Africa between Cote d'Ivoire (aka Ivory Coast) and Togo. In September of last year, I went to Azerbaijan, Georgia and Armenia. Well, many thought I transited through  Hartsfield Airport in Atlanta, Georgia, USA between those  2 other strange places . Do you know where Azerbaijan lies? And with the exception of mainly French speakers, not too many could actually put their finger on where I was when in Algeria. Traveling to Moldova left people clueless and until possibly recently with talks of seperating the nation into two, not many could put their finger on a map to point out the Sudan where I was taken on  a "free trip" thanks to highjackers who commandered the Ethiopian plane I was on and holding us as hostages in Africa's largest nation. When I mention on my next trip I'll be in Mauritania, Guinea Bissau and Burkina Faso, where does one even begin to serach which continent they are even on!
But sad is when people confuse Austria with Australia and think Rio de Janeiro is the capital of Argentina. In recent studies in the United States, almost 50% of 18-24 year olds could not find on a map of the country the states of Mississippi, Ohio or New York and much less New York City; 75% could not point out Israel or Iran.  And Great Britain isn't far behind. I must confess that here in Argentina and in the Czech Repiblic also, people are so much more educated and informed about the world around them. And many are truly interested in getting to know lands beyond their boundries and even speak the foreign language of the country. I don't know many Yanks or Brits  are signing up for courses in Chinese with over 1 billion speakers; Arabic with 300 million speakers; Portuguese with 200 million speakers or even Spanish with over 400 million speakers. And while English is the 3rd most widely spoken languages as a First and Second language, many English speakers feel that if "they" want to speak to me, let them speak English!  But  the country continues to spend the money on wars never to be won in Iraq or Afghanistan and cuts the education budget and geography from the curriculum and so its citizens will continue to live in their bubble world for the remaining time they have left there!

On my first trip to Albania several years ago, I redeemed miles for a free ticket on Swissair although the ticketing had to be done by Delta. When I told the woman in charge of international ticketing in the downtown Chicago office that I wanted to fy from Zurich to Tirana, Albania's capital, she insisted this was illegal and not possible as there could be no tickets on a US carrier in conjunction with a flight to Iran. After finally convincing her that Tirana was not Teheran, she issued the ticket but commented "why would anyone in the world want to go there?" I constantly must revert to the old name of the country where Prague was the capital, Czechoslovakia, because still many people as well as on-line registration sites are convinced that it still exists after 18 years of seperation.
While leading a trip on the Black sea stopping in Odessa, Istanbul, Yalta and the likes of such ports, 2 woman argued with me that we were sailing the Baltic Sea. And yes, they were American. But even in Argentina a few weeks ago, there was a full page article in "the" newspaper, La Nacion, about the trendy places and sights to see  in Ljubljana, Slovenia; the picture above the article, however, was of the large castle high above the Slovakian capital of Bratislava on the Danube.
So I guess that I am indeed truly lucky. When I get an a plane back to Prague, I know where I've been, where I am going, over which countries and bodies of water I'll be crossing and in case for some reason I don't, I'm lucky enough to look on the in-flight magazine map and  be able to find it.
Bon Voyage!
SES