Canceled! TPOL’s Move to Albania

I hope you are enjoying the #NoCollusion, No Albania for TPOL Trip Report. Looking at pictures from Mullixhiu, one of the best restaurants in Europe, and other great Tirana Restaurants, I was excited for my spring 2020 move to Tirana, Albania and my subsequent move to Minsk, Belarus to improve my Russian. Alas, there will be no Tirana for TPOL and no vodka/sauna lifestyle in Minsk (see Belarus’ president dismisses coronavirus risk, encourages citizens to drink vodka and visit saunas). For the time being and what I’m predicting to be a year from now, TPOL will be grounded. Instead of delaying the move to Albania yet again, I’ve decided to cancel it indefinitely.

Looking back at it, the idea of having readers decide where I would move next was not very wise. Writing about it was fun as was the emotional rollercoaster of the process. Here’s a recap of the ill-conceived plan, which began in March of 2017.

1. Vote Where TPOL Moves Next! And I’ll Go There
2. Where Is TPOL’s New Home Country? Voting Now Open
3. Is Chiang Mai TPOL’s New Home? Vote Now
4. Barranquilla, Colombia Is The Worst Place to Live? Vote Now
5. It’s Not Kuta, But Should I Live in Bali? Vote Today
6. Surabaya, Indonesia: Home Sweet Home? Vote Now
7. Lisbon, Portugal: Send Me There, Please!
8. Vote Where TPOL Moves in December (For Real This Time)
9. TPOL’s New Home Election: Porto? It’s No Albania
10. TPOL’s New Home Is Taipei? Vote 现在
11. Should I Move to Ko Samui? Vote Now
12. TPOL, An Expat in Bangkok? Albania’s Back: Vote Today
13. Gran Canaria for 4 Months? Vote Now
14. Kaohsiung, Taiwan 6.13% of the Votes: Move There?
15. TPOL’s Next Home: The Other Cities in Portugal?
16. Tirana, Taipei, Lisbon, Or Bangkok: The Runoff Vote!
17. Tirana, Albania: Debauchery & Promiscuity! Vote Now
18. Forbe’s Quit Your Job And Live Abroad List: Where’s Albania?
19. TPOL Is Moving to Albania! (Eventually)
20. Despacito! TPOL Is Moving to Puerto Rico! Effective Inmediatamente
21. Vote Where TPOL Moves AFTER Albania…And I’ll Go!
22. Salt Block District Tirana, Albania: Where TPOL Will Live*

After all those polls, all those questions of elections in meddling, the whole thing was a witch-hunt hoax. Thanks to covid, I’m quarantined in Puerto Rico. While it’s not the worst thing to be stuck on the beach, I do miss the chaos of impromptu travel. I will also miss the Tirana and Minsk experience. But, I have learned two valuable lessons from this voting experiment: First, don’t leave your future to strangers. As obvious as it sounds, the general public does not have your best interest in mind. Second, don’t plan ahead. Life is too unpredictable and planning, even if it involves a random move to a random country, is boring. Instead, I will just go somewhere and write you when I get there (see Travel Planning: Check Prices Or Just Go?).