We’re back!!

Hard to believe but nearly a year has gone by with no new travel stories. Hope that you’ve missed us, and are looking forward to hearing about our bumbling attempts to be inconspicuous as we explore new places.

First, let me share with you the reason for the long wait… we haven’t been on any long or overseas trips since Eastern Europe last fall. Oh, not for lack of trying! We had a trip to Turkey and Malta  planned, booked, and pre-paid, scheduled for last May. Those plans came to a screeching halt when I developed Deep Vein Thrombosis. With a leg full of multiple clots - from my knee to my pelvis - it was time for emergency surgery. A thrombectomy eliminated all but one clot, but, to my dismay, two weeks later, a piece of that clot broke off and nestled in next to my heart. I was lucky. Pulmonary embolisms are often fatal, but my only restriction was not to fly until after August.  Thank heavens for Travel Insurance! 

Our Turkey and Malta trip was easily rescheduled and we will start with a 9 hr train ride (unbelievably cheaper than flying) to Miami on 9/3. The next day, a nonstop, nearly 12 hour flight, will deliver us to Istanbul and the start of an exploration of the ancient empire of Turkey,  a bridge between Europe and Asia.  We are also spending 3 days in Malta, because our 1 day port stop there 2 years ago just wasn’t enough to see or do all the interesting things we discovered.

As you can imagine the past 6 months of staying home hasn’t been all that much fun, but it did give me time to plan trips for the next couple of years. After this trip, I will blog our road trip to France in October. Next year, we will return to Australia to see things we missed the first time, and then we will be returning on a 29 day South Pacific cruise from Sydney to Seattle. Lots of sea days, so the blog might be short.  In the fall we have planned a road trip around Great Britain. That only leaves 2 more trips on our wish list: a train trip through the Canadian Mountains from Vancouver to Calgary and what I call the “Great Northern Road Trip” across our northern states. 

So a few more blogs still to come!