It is less than a week since we returned and less than a week until we head off again.
Have been replacing stolen stuff, making insurance claims (Grrr! Don't start me on that issue!), tracking down foreign currencies, answering mail, seeing my parents (see below), attending parties (see below), chucking out things we took but never needed, collecting things that we will need (we think) in the cooler countries of the next leg. It's all go, go, go.
Pretty soon we will go.
I need the rest!
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Phase two of our travels are: The trans-Mongolian train trip (Beijing to St Petersburg), Britain, France, Spain, Portugal and Morocco. Leaving on May 2nd, returning August 20th.
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So many things to think about. I understand the twitchy in terms of traveling knowing your dad is undergoing treatment. Still, life goes on while life goes on. Changes (for good or ill) don't wait until we're ready do they? Hope this next leg of your adventure is as marvelous as the first. I'm glad you're going - I'm learning a lot!
ReplyDeleteOur weather has changed, too - spring arrived a whole month early, complete with leafed-out trees and returning songbirds. Usually we had to wait until mid-May but here it all is now. Something is amiss with the weather globally despite naysayers.
Exciting stuff! Nice about Martin & Roni; not so cool about your dad. Lung cancer is tough and him being older won't make it easier. Still, you can't give up your life either. If you could do something then it might be different. It is nice that the docs are talking cure.
ReplyDeleteWe like to travel with only carry on luggage. It is a struggle but it makes life much easier. Of course, our longest trip with carry on only was three weeks. Hope the next leg of your journey is great! And eat those gifts before you get home!
i'm happy to see you and margaret are having marvelous adventures. i will be in switzerland, france and spain during the end of july and beginning of august... it would be a fun experience if we accidentally ran into eachother somewhere. happy trails to you and margaret.
ReplyDeletebig hugs,
snowsparkle
Sure would be a hoot if we did! Should I wear a white carnation?
ReplyDeleteSounds hectic, just reading it, haha
ReplyDeleteI enjoy travel best, watching it on TV and reading about it these days, but this leg of your trip are all places I would truly love to see. So hope you supply us with plenty of pictures.
well, world traveler!
ReplyDeleteAbout the insurance...well. Way back a while I mentioned a movie to you called The Man That Sued God, (with Billy Connelly) well, how it started was a bicker over insurance.
Dang! Beijing will love seeing y'all. Here a fair amount of folks are using it for politics. You know...just like global warming.
Me?
I know the earth has some real drastic shifts in weather...most folks don't understand how drastic, but, no kiddin', it ain't a pretty thing to consider.
Doesn't even touch onthe concept of the poles switching. Taht oght'a be a real fun day!
Half the religious world screaming how the skies are falling and the other half saying it's all the fault of the sinners!
HA!
And you know me well enough to know...
what with believing in a great SPIRIT, even with the screaming and all, I figure there's gonn'a be some spiritual laughing.
But as for global warming? The politics have ruined it for us. If you believe in it, then any of a dozen vulture "environmentalist" groups are trying to lasso your money for their purposes. If you don't believe in it, then you're out there throwing trash in the rivers again, drinking beer and tossing the cans in the environment....dang! I personally wish folks had taken enough sense to say, "hey! We don't want to live like pigs in a sty!"
but, what the hey...
Sorry 'bout yer Dad.
Could be hard going, maybe not.
It all depends on the person.
Here's all the tricks Ma and me cooked up for her when she was doing the "stuff"
Big time garlic on the meats and veggies.
Some cookies or brownies with some "you know" cooked in it.
Peppericinnis. (my spelling may be bad, so just get a couple of jars that look like that's how they're spelled. They got a bit of bite, but the pickled kind are really tasty. Plus they get that danged medicine taste out'a the mind.
A good cigar.
(or a pipe. Ma didn't fancy to either, so I smoked both around her for a couple of days after the "stuff"
Try to have fun with the new hair-do. Get some wax, polish it up. Toss on a hat and put it on a lil crooked.
Have someone with a dog go visit often enough....and bring the dog!
Well, that's so cool you're still onto the traveling! You two are probably having more fun than any ten insurance thieves...I mean, agents....
Is Cuba still on? Out of Canada?
oh yeah....don't forget...there IS one other way to travel. Real light, buy as you need as you're gone.
ReplyDeleteLess places like forrest and surprise visits by the security forces next leg...more civilized.
Clothing should all fit in one suitcase (yours and hers clothing) and sundries in a seciond, smaller hard case.
Some other things (computer, pills, extra glasses, books) in a good backpack that you can also fit a loaf of raisin bread in for eating when you get stuck somewhere....
(uh-oh. Did you notice that it was "when you get stuck" and not "if you get stuck"?)
Well, have fun you two. Say 'hello' to the Queen for me. Tell her I couldn't make it over to visit because my show was kind'a a bust.
What a busy boy! You will need a holiday to get over the holiday - but it all sounds great fun.
ReplyDeleteI shall look out for you here, in England, and will shake your hand if I run into you!
Likewise if you're planning on visiting Greenwich, give me a shout.
ReplyDeleteSorry about your Dad - my Mum succumbed to cancer when I was young(er) - my Aunt died last week and well...lots of bad news drip-dripping in over the past few months from friends in the UK and US.
Nevertheless you do have to see it as even more incentive to live YOUR life.
oh can't wait for the next phase..but I do feel exhausted just by reading this post.. Found out that hubby is also checking your blog and envious of your adventure..maybe we'll do that one day..dream..dream..
ReplyDeletegoing on vacation is such a lot of WORK, lol! can't be helped I guess..
ReplyDeletesoon you'll be off and on the road again, with no more errands to run.
Standing by for an eye-ball. Have a safe trip and see you end of May.
ReplyDeleteWell, in the spirit of helping you get ready....
ReplyDeleteAt the bottom of my blog I've put one of those fancy clocks that one can point their mouse at and it tells them the time.
Well, doesn't "tell" the time...one has to read it, see?
But quite World Traveler Ready, I'de say.
Oooh, and I'm so jealous of your train journey. Enjoy!
ReplyDelete