Monday, January 1, 2018

A Year of Travel





As we end 2017 and start a New Year, we reflect on a year of “bucket-list” travel taking us to places we have wanted to explore for a long time.  In a nutshell, we drove over 14,000 miles in only 6 months (in the U.S. and went to 16 other countries, traveling by truck, large cruise ship, train, foot, bus, cable car, rental car, small boutique ship, ferry, tuk tuk, zodiac raft, small wooden “panga” canoes, and of course airplane.  

Speaking of air travel, we took 21 flights in 2017 averaging 2- 1/2 hours each!  That’s a whole lot of TSA security lines.  Some highlights that we remember:

·       Stayed in a 11th century castle village

·       Experienced two healing ceremonies by Medicine Men Shamans

·       Drank Bordeaux wine in a French Chateau

·       Ate Basque pintxos with rioja wine

·       Munched on Cornish pasties

·       Stood at the Sun Temple of Machu Picchu

·       Devoured Swiss Fondue

·       Reluctantly tried “cuy”-Peruvian delicacy of guinea pig

·       Eagerly swigged Irish whiskey

·       Savored Dutch, French, Swiss, Ecuadorian, Belgian, Italian and Peruvian chocolate

·       Had a conversation with a “street working woman” in Quitos, Ecuador

·       Sipped champagne at the top of the Las Vegas High Roller

·       Hiked in the Swiss Alps and the Peruvian Andes

·       Wrapped a 150 lb Anaconda snake around my neck
·       Walked among the world’s largest tortoises in the Galapagos

·       Took our grandsons “camping” in our RV

·       Had our picture taken in front of Doc Martin’s Surgery

·       Survived left-handed driving with manual transmission in Wales and Ireland

·       Found the ancestrial home of Jack’s 15th great grandfather-Sir Richard Knightley

·       Lived for a while in a 16th century Georgian home in Sulgrave, England

·       Put one foot in the northern hemisphere and one foot in the southern hemisphere

·       Spoke Swiss-French when we don’t speak French

·       Changed from our tandem bicycle to electric bikes



·       And the best…..spent Christmas 2017 with our children & grandchildren-Bert, Kathy, Ethan & Liam—Billy, Melissa, Owen & Isaac.