Fun With Maps presented by Dr. Lennard Ramone


The Dutch department of Foreign Affairs has a really nifty app with travel advice and other handy information for people when they travel abroad. 


My favorite part is the map. Every country in the world is classified on it. 

There is a color code that shows how safe it is to go:


Green: Safe. No problems to speak of. 

This is nearly the whole of Europe, the USA, Canada, Australia etc. Basically all fully developed countries.


Yellow: Still safe, but keep your eyes open.

This is most of South America, except for Uruguay (Green) and Venezuela(orange). Parts of Northern Africa and the Middle East, the tourist hotspots in Asia like Thailand, most of the Caucasus (except for border regions in disputed areas like Nagorno Karabakh, South Ossetia etc) and small bits of former Yugoslavia like Kosovo and the border areas between Bosnia and Serbia.


Orange: Only go if you really, really have to, and if you’re there, I would get out pronto. Hire local security where possible.

This is normally countries where there is either a realistic chance of armed conflict or civil unrest, or that have a totalitarian government with a propensity for throwing foreign tourists in jail for no reason other than that they can. Examples include Venezuela, North Korea and most of Central Africa.


Red: Active warzone/rogue state. Under no circumstances go there and if you are there, get the fuck out. These ones are obvious- Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, Libya etc. 


                                                        Want to rent a room? I make you good price! 


It is possible for a country to have different  color codes in different parts of the country and they don’t even have to be in adjourning levels. Saudi Arabia, for example, is entirely yellow (reasonably safe) except for the border with Yemen, which is red (get the fuck out).

Armenia, too, is entirely yellow, except for the borders with Azerbaijan and Turkey, and the disputed area of Nagorno Karabakh which is, in theory, part of Azerbaijan but is controlled by the Armenian army. Azerbaijan regularly stages attacks on the area and the people there live in a strange geopolitical limbo where they are officially part of a country that they don’t want to be part of, want to join a country that they are not allowed to join and are in the middle of an on-again, off-again ping pong war between those countries. The people have already suggested that Nagorno Karabakh become independent and not part of either Azerbaijan or Armenia but, ofcourse, neither country wants to give up territory that they claim is theirs.


Anyway, I digress. Back to the map. 


I always have great fun playing with the map. Yes, I’m a nerd when it comes to maps.

When you click on a country, or select it from a list, you get all the travel information you need: is there a Dutch embassy, what currency is in use, what is the political situation etc. etc. 


Like with everything else, the COVID pandemic has fucked up my map fun because, about 9 months ago, the Dutch government gave every country Code Orange, with the exception of the red parts which, ofcourse, remain red. 


Last night, I received a text from a friend of mine in Holland, saying “Hey Lenny, Ireland has been turned yellow. Thinking about coming over!”


At first I didn’t understand what he was on about, until I made the link to the map. 

I looked it up on my phone and found that the Dutch government has now turned 5 countries back to Code Yellow status:




  • Ireland
  • Finland 
  • Portugal 
  • Thailand                          

And, for some reason, Rwanda.

Why this tiny African nation, bordered on most sides by bright red war- and famine zones, is on the OK list is beyond me, but when I put this to a friend of mine here in Dublin he suggested it might have to do with the diamond trade, which has always been strong in Amsterdam because of their historically large Jewish population.


Whatever the case, all these little things help build toward the end of this pandemic.


Earlier this week, I took public transport for the first time since February 2020. I rode the tram all the way to the end, at Brides Glen in the Wicklow mountains. Tomorrow I might take the train to Howth. 


I just registered for my vaccination, which will also make mobility a lot easier. 


June 7 is the day that pubs with outside seating will reopen, and word around the campfire in the hospitality industry is that indoor reopening might be allowed from July or August. Our vice-prime minister has dropped strong hints towards this as vaccination progresses.


The end is in sight.

Finally. 

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