I do respect your opinion, especially in light of your lived experience.

So far as government responses & actions related to this pandemic are concerned, I think there are two ways of looking at those actions:

(Positive outlook, assumes benevolent government): The most important responsibility of any country's government is to protect their citizens. So, if a country thinks that an external threat is present, such as infectious disease arriving from outside the country, they will close borders.

(Negative outlook, assumes cynical & self-serving government): If the government thinks it will lose popularity and put at risk its continuing electoral success as a result of any given development, it will take whatever actions it thinks appropriate to remain in power.

Either perspective could result in inbound travel restrictions.

Michael

So kind of a "heads I win, tails you lose" situation?

I'm still on the fence. I'll wait another couple weeks to see what pops up/ or doesn't. Turkey has the most places I'd like to see. If I start there, I might gamble with Armenia and Azerbiajan. If they look less inviting, I might just do the Balkans.

Just so that you can see the vaccination rates of the countries you have mentioned possibly going to:

https://ourworldindata.org/explorers/coronavirus-data-explorer?zoomToSelection=true&time=2021-09-04&facet=none&pickerSort=asc&pickerMetric=location &Metric=People+vaccinated+%28by+dose%29&Interva l=7-day+rolling+average&Relative+to+Population=true&Al ign+outbreaks=false&country=BGR~BIH~ALB~HRV~OWID_K OS~MNE~MKD~USA~TUR~ARM~AZE

Turkey is up at the rates that are in the USA as a national average and Croatia is not far behind. Now have a think about the mortality rates that are present in the USA with its health care system. The delta variant is ripping through the world and whilst the vaccine provides significant protection it is not 100%. Countries are liable to shut borders at the drop of a hat to protect their citizens as far as possible - if you are coming I suggest sticking to one country just to reduce the risk of your trip being buggered with no warning.

Thanks for chart I will be going to Croatia next Tuesday to start my 5 week trip.