“Ma’am, we don’t sell travel medical insurance for travel within the
United States.”

Yes, I know. I’m going overseas.

“Ummmmm??”

Just type it in your system. It should come up.

“Ahhh, I see. South Georgia. Oh, an island. Well, that sounds
nice.”

No, ma’am. I’m going to the Republic of Georgia. Keep looking please.

It don’t know how often someone mistakes South Georgia Island for the Republic of
Georgia, but most often times when I say that I climbed a glaciated
mountain in Georgia people look at me with a quizzical expression on their
face. Americans, apparently, don’t know Georgia from… well, Georgia!

My first trip to Georgia was in 2008 and my conversation with the
medical insurance saleswoman continued to perplex her.

“Oh… well, it says that Georgia is a designated war zone.”

Yes ma’am, I know.

“Well, you won’t be covered for acts of war.”

Another “Yes ma’am I know” covered the skepticism I had about
being injured by any act of war. Of course, it was possible, but I knew that I
was much more likely to be injured in a car accident since it was reputed that
Georgia’s roads were in notoriously poor condition, seat belts rarely worked,
and tires were likely to be bald.

The Russians had bombed and invaded Georgia on the opening day of the 2008
Beijing Olympics (I suspect because they knew it would get little attention in
the international press while the world’s eyes were glued to coverage of the
opening ceremonies). Weeks later, the world knew Michael Phelps’s name, but few
had heard about Georgia despite the invasion.

The word “invasion” obviously portrays the Russians as the
aggressor in this case. They, of course, would argue that South Ossetia,
Abkhazia, and a few other enclaves clearly belong to them. Despite the
invasion, the bombings, and the occupation, however, I was determined to go.
The country is about the size of the state of South Carolina. I would just
avoid a couple areas, but otherwise travel throughout the country. No big deal!

But Georgia sucks you in. You see a little and then you want to see more.
Unlike Rome or Paris where your “must see” tourist attractions are
well known even to small children (Colosseum, Eiffel Tower, etc…), Georgia’s
tourist attractions, though utterly amazing, are unheard of by most foreigners:
Uplistsikhe,
Vardzia, David Gareja, and the sulfur springs of Borjomi are but just a few. Even
as I advocate for more people to travel to Georgia to see all of its historical,
cultural, and natural wonders, I must say that Georgia’s greatest wonder is its
people. With their own distinct language and script (Georgian is a Kartvelian
language, and distinct from the Slavic languages) the people are proud of their
Georgian heritage and happy to share it with foreigners (foreigners, incidentally
are treated much more like houseguests than strangers). In fact, travel and
tourism sites for Georgia frequently speak of how Georgians are known for their
hospitality. In my two visits to Georgia, I would submit that a Georgian you
may only have met a few hours ago is probably much more likely to cook you a
delicious home cooked meal than your own grandmother! Whether it was sharing their
home, food, drink, stories, or a good laugh, the gregarious and giving nature
of the Georgian people was more of a treasure than anything I saw in the
Louvre.