The Washington Post - USA (2020-08-02)

LODGING

Vacationers find privacy

and mobility aboard

rented houseboats. E19

NAVIGATOR

Vacation canceled? Don’t

settle for credit when you

really want a refund. E18

OUT MY WINDOW

Join readers around the

world who have — literally

— shared their views. E18

KLMNO

Travel

SUNDAY, AUGUST 2 , 2020. SECTION E EZ EE KK

PHOTOS BY WALTER NICKLIN FOR THE WASHINGTON POST

TOP: Deadman’s Cove is part of Maine’s rocky coast, which during summertime is

filled with roughly 16 hours of daylight. ABOVE: The view out the front window of the

author’s coastal cabin. He and his wife, Pat, have made the trip from Virginia for years.

BY BAILEY BERG

Matt McCaughey had tried four

times to get a visa for Syria. Of the

193 U.N.-recognized countries in

the world, it was the only one he

hadn’t been to.

The Middle Eastern nation is

notoriously hard to get into, par-

ticularly for those who carry a

U.S. passport. It’s only possible to

go with a guided tour, and ap-

proval of the necessary paper-

work is often based on the whims

of visa officials. After years of

applying and waiting, it looked as

if it would finally happen; he’d

found a tour set to leave in April.

Then the coronavirus hit, rap-

idly closing borders and shutting

down worldwide travel.

Now the 48-year-old from Las

Vegas doesn’t know when, if ever,

he’ll accomplish his dream of vis-

iting every country in the world.

“It was going to be my last

chance for a while, as my wife just

had our first child,” McCaughey

explained, adding that it’s impos-

sible to predict which countries

will reopen their borders and

when.

Had McCaughey visited Syria

this spring as planned, he would

have joined a small coalition of

travelers who can claim that

they’ve been everywhere in the

world. Harry Mitsidis, founder of

NomadMania, a group that tracks

and verifies those who engage in

competitive travel, said its data-

base lists roughly 250 people who

have earned that distinction

(some of whom are now de-

ceased).

This style of exploration had

exploded in popularity over the

past couple of decades, until the

novel coronavirus effectively cut

off its trajectory. In 2000, it was

believed that only 12 people had

ever ventured to every U.N. coun-

SEE COUNTRIES ON E18

Their goal to join an exclusive club grows more elusive

COURTESY OF GINA MORELLO

G ina Morello, seen in Yemen,

might have achieved her dream

this year of visiting every

country if not for the pandemic.

The coronavirus pandemic has disrupted travel domestically and around the world. You will find the latest developments on The Post’s live blog at http://www.washingtonpost.com/coronavirus/

BY WALTER NICKLIN

I

t’s been an annual ritual for longer than

I care to admit: summer weeks on the

rocky coast of Maine. Much of the ap-

peal, as with any tradition, is its change-

less character. The precise times for

high and low tides change each day, but

in a predictable fashion. Although my

children have grown from toddlers to adults —

as old as I was when I first took them to Maine

— the magical tide pools in which they used to

splash are everlasting. The world might be

going to hell, but summertime in Maine re-

mains forever constant — “true north,” both

literally and metaphorically.

Until this summer.

Anticipation morphed into apprehension

starting in March, when the local government

of a Penobscot Bay island near my coastal cabin

voted to ban all visitors, even seasonal resi-

dents who owned property there. The North

Haven Select Board’s order stated that “people

who do not reside on the island full time may

not travel to the island due to the significant

increase in risk associated with the transmis-

sion of covid-19.”

Although that order was soon rescinded, the

governor declared that all out-of-state visitors

would be required to self-quarantine for 14

days. Mainers’ cordial, symbiotic relationship

with so-called “summer people” now took on a

wary, fearful tone. With my car’s Virginia li-

cense plates, I might as well be Typhoid Mary.

Even getting to Maine would now prove

daunting. Typically, I would take two days to

drive from my year-round home in Virginia

(often longer if caught in traffic turmoil around

New York City or Boston). Spending the night

somewhere new and different en route was

part of the ritual, especially when the kids were

young. So it was that we enjoyed leisurely and

memorable hours at places like the historic

Mohonk Mountain House in the Hudson River

Valley and the Red Lion Inn in the Berkshires.

As with flying or taking a train, however, the

prudent coronavirus protocol is to avoid mo-

SEE MAINE ON E20

In Maine,

a beloved routine

is reworked

For these seasonal residents, a 14-day quarantine was a small price to pay for the comforts of their summer tradition