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ANCIENT EGYPT: We’re Baaack, and Ready to Raid (visit) some Tombs!
It’s finally time to dust off the passports and dig out the money belts, because we are headed overseas soon, to visit EGYPT. Now if you’re curious as to how important an Egypt trip is to our travel goals, just read this old post, one of my first. (Travel: Well, Why Not?) Third time’s the charm, we hope, since two prior…
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KEY WEST: Snowbirds, Coconut Telegraphs, and the end of Pandemic Times, Maybe?
This past year sure was a doozy, wasn’t it? Wish I could say we’ve been trekking in Patagonia or some such recently, but no. We’ve been set back on our heels like everyone else, especially by that mind-numbing number: 500,000. Soon, that’s how many Americans will lie dead due to Covid-19. We’ve been home until recently, clicking through America’s current nightmares…
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Ireland: The Dingle Peninsula, Covid-19, and Me
Happy St. Patrick’s Day! A strange one, this St. Patty’s, due to the coronavirus outbreak. In Dingle, Ireland, near where the photo above was taken, all the pubs are closed. Imagine that. And the Dingle Town band cancelled their pre-dawn St. Patrick’s Day march, a tradition dating back to the 1870s, for the first time ever. Locals refer to today…
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Key West Christmas Greetings from Padre and the Blonde!
Key West is so not Seattle in December. We’ve got to keep our wits about us, since the wind-whipped backyard palm tree keeps flinging coconuts down on our pool deck. And don’t worry, Christmas won’t really be late (above pic), even though Christmas porch decorations here lean more toward Margaritaville than Bedford Falls. Christmas won’t be as late as our…
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London: Royalty and Rebellions, London Walks, Beheadings, and all that Cultural Loot
King George III stole the show. British royals also stole a few countries, an entire Greek temple, Padre’s Irish ancestral homelands, and India’s massive Koh-i-Noor diamond, inset on one of the crowns displayed with the Crown Jewels. So plenty of thievery here on the Sceptered Isle, but King George’s heist was a masterpiece of musical theater. I’ll never forget how…
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London: Tube Travel Adventures, Must-See Attractions, and The Play’s the Thing
Departure Day finally arrived, and it all started in the hot tub, where I met a tall, handsome man who knew a lot about airplanes. We talked about destinations (London, Amsterdam), and reasons for our trips (fun, work). I tapped his travel knowledge, as I am wont to do when chatting with globe-trotting people, which he most definitely was. Lots…
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Ireland Road Journeys and a Marriage, the Second Time Around
We were at a crossroads. A literal crossroads, halted on a bramble-hedged rural lane, Gaelic signposts pointed in five bewildering directions. We’d learned the hard way that sometimes a wrong choice might send us veering off down red-dirt cowpaths, into private farmyards, or to the edge of towering cliffs. Which way do I go? he asked, and I raised my…
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Transpacific Cruise: Hawaii Hotspots, LA Party Animals, and Where to Next?
Our 30-day transpacific cruise reminded me a bit of our 30 years of marriage, and FYI our anniversary is TODAY –the old married folks say Woo Hoo! (See end of article for info on our upcoming Irish Honeymoon Re-do 30th Anniversary Trip.) On both journeys, there have been constant surprises (Padre turned into a gardener, and onboard we both turned…
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Tahiti and Moorea: Manta Rays, Sharks, and the Lure of Distant Islands
The old man misled us about Tahiti, pretty much his entire life. I know my dad didn’t do it intentionally, but mislead he did, and guess what? I planned an entire cruise based on what I thought was true, when in fact things didn’t go that way at all. That said, I’m more than ok with how things turned out.…
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New Zealand’s North Island: Rotorua or Hades? Shire or Sheep Farm? And Is Auckland Shut or Open?
We were young and stupid. Little did we know that life cost money, so we said ‘sure’ when offered a spot in a 1991 Auckland teacher exchange program. Almost-newlyweds with a blended family of typical teenagers (lots of scowls and secrets), we barely paid the bills as it was. I mean, Why NOT take a somewhat impromptu trip to New…
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New Zealand’s South Island: Welcome to Middle Earth! Earthquakes, Albatrosses, and Breathtaking Landscapes Everywhere
Eleanor Catton had me at the ball gowns lined with gold sewn into their hems. The 1861 discovery of gold set off a frenzy of fortune seekers stampeding south, way south, to New Zealand’s wild and empty Otago Peninsula, our next cruise stop. Catton brings this era to riveting life in her 848-page historical novel, The Luminaries, and even though Padre…
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Tasmania and Sydney, Australia: Unzoos and Zoos, Manly, and the Golden Princess – Finally!
Funny what comes to mind when people heard we were visiting Tasmania. No one thought we were talking about Tanzania, thank goodness (they all had excellent geography teachers, I’m sure), but everyone asked if we would see Tasmanian devils while here. Puzzled, our new Tassie friends asked us why Americans inevitably ask about the devils, and we laughed – it’s…
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Tasmania: Wineglass Bay Bushwalking, Port Arthur, and the Isle of the Dead
Most visitors don’t make it all the way to Wineglass Bay Beach, the one in those famous photos. They stop at the Wineglass Bay lookout, snap selfies with the perfect curve of golden sand down below, and debate whether to keep going down to Wineglass Bay Beach, despite the warning signs that do everything in their power to discourage. So…
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Hobart, Tasmania: MONA, New Friends, Death, and Life: What’s Not to Like?
I knew Padre could sleep anywhere but didn’t know he could snore away, tucked inside MONA’s big white egg with me while a pulsing, hallucinatory light show closed in from all sides. The thing was on the ‘hard’ setting, even. I guess the guy really likes his sleep. Padre finally made it to Tasmania’s famous MONA (Museum of Old and…
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Hawaii’s Big Island: Waipio Valley, Wise Old Grandmothers, Tsunamis, and Kapus
The man on the ATV waved and smiled as our tourist van lurched by on the rutted red mud road. I smiled at his friendliness, but stopped before I waved back – since his ‘wave’ had turned into a one-finger salute. Not so friendly then, these Valley residents, just as the tour books warned. And I understand, I do, especially…
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Hawaii’s Kona Coast: Stellar Snorkeling, Thrifty Condo Living, and Friends Everywhere We Look
I love the Kevin Bacon game, where you link any two people in the world in six connections or less. We never expected to play Six Degrees of Separation in Waimea, Hawaii, a foodie mashup of art galleries and paniolo cowboy culture tucked up in the misty green foothills on the north end of the Hawaii’s Big Island. But play…
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They All Start with T: Three Reasons We’re At the Airport, Again!
We like the airport. No, we don’t like pat-downs, delays, mind-numbing microphone announcements, or being smushed nose-to-nose with other passengers on a bus ride out to the tarmac to catch our plane. (United thought of a new way to torture passengers! Way to go, United!) We seldom complain about airport indignities because we love what the airport does for us. Kind…
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Why Key West? Rentals We Have Loved and Lost, and Other KW How-Tos
We used to find a Key West rental the easy way. Click around on VRBO dreaming for a while, pick the perfect place, contact the owner, send a small deposit. Done. Uh, no. Not any more. We’ve watched the rental market change dramatically since 2006, and now it’s more like 1) stalk renters who rave about a place, then follow…
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Key West and the Dry Tortugas: The Sounds of Silence and the Boat to Nowhere
Something seemed off. With daypacks hitched to our backs, we hiked through Key West’s sleepy streets to the ferry terminal before dawn, then climbed aboard Yankee Freedom III for our trip to Dry Tortugas National Park. Along with 248 other intrepid souls, we were off for a nine-hour tour to one of the most remote national parks in our nation.…
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Happy New Year! 2019 Resolutions for Later-Life Travelers
Swim More Laps With Geese, Resolution #3, takes some explanation, so let’s back up and start with the easy ones: Resolution #5: Attend More Dachshund Parades (and other fun stuff) After I sat on the curb watching pooches parade from Whitehead to Duval (a very short parade, of course), I kept smiling for hours. Dachshunds are so…….short, and cute, and…
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A Key West Christmas: BELIEVE!
I’ve always been a Christmas person. My folks loved Christmas too, and I have treasured memories of all those family Christmases long ago: Sitting in the pew at Christmas Eve candlelight service, Mom’s gorgeous table groaning with turkey and all the fixins, the tree with treasured ornaments, some I still hang on my own tree 60 years later. Over time,…
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St. Lucia and Grenada: Whales, Revolutions, and No Bananas for You!
So which is it: An idyllic paradise, or the modern-day legacy of a colonial past? Is it a picturesque Old World British village set in a lush tropical paradise, or the former site of bloody revolution, executions, and brutal slavery? Is it a romantic Loveboat, or the place where relationships go to die? That old saying ‘there are two sides…
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Antigua and Barbados, Afoot and Afloat
There’s a first and a last time for everything. The last time I leaped off the back of a sailboat in snorkel gear was, let’s see….25 years ago? This time it was only a short drop, but if I managed it, my string of life leaps off cliffs, diving boards, and boats galore was not over yet, not by a…
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Passenger Categories: Which One Are You? Southern Caribbean, Post #1
I love to people-watch on a cruise ship. Everyone’s away from home in a new environment; so how will they behave? I’ve already met several folks like me: a Planner as opposed to a Show-Up (who just shows up). I booked this cruise almost two years ago, in fact, and have thoroughly researched our seven island destinations: Antigua, Barbados, St.…
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Vegas Roadtrip: Homeward Bound, and the WEST on FIRE
The West’s vast landscapes seem like old friends to me. In the 1960s, sardined together in Dad’s homemade camper, my family stopped everywhere Mom wanted to stop (antique stores), and at all the national parks. And long ago, Padre and I road-tripped through Montana (above), Oregon, and California. But neither of us remember so much scary fire. In 1965, I’m…
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Las Vegas, Baby! The Old Folks Do Sin City (without the sin – how boring is that?)
I finally made it to Vegas, after a lifetime of avoidance. And it didn’t turn out the way I thought it might at all. I love it when that happens (usually). At first gaze, the Vegas Strip is one huge glittery mash-up of exaggerated everything: Architecture, debauchery, hotel rooms, shows – even the drinks people were carrying around were outrageous.…
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Roadtripping 2018: Seattle to Vegas, with trips down Memory Lane
Our trips anywhere often start on the Seattle ferry, even if it’s just to see a play at the Seattle Rep. In summertime the boat bursts with tourists snapping photos, hanging on the rails, soaking in the views. I usually read a book, but this time I donned my tourist glasses – Wow! What stunning vistas I’ve been missing. That’s…
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VEGAS, BABY! 5 Reasons It’s Time to Hit the Road
The road is waiting! So is Padre, and I better finish this before he gets cranky. After the Epic Journey last spring we picked up right where we left off: yard work and ‘real’ work, pumpkin growing, jam-making, Mariners, and mindless TV shows such as Beach Front Bargain Hunt. Too much news, too, even for a journalism junkie like me.…
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Tokyo: Monsoon Rains, Trains, Blossoms, and Brains
So I cheated. The photo above is not Tokyo, but it could have been a couple of weeks ago. The Japanese adore all things cherry blossom, and although the delicate pink blooms only hang around for a week, Tokyo dwellers go all out. Office workers pour out of skyscrapers to frolic under the blossoms at elaborate picnic parties, we hear.…
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Kamchatka, Russia: May the 4th Be With You. Twice!
What a perfect day to get to live twice: Star Wars Day! On a cruise ship crossing the international dateline, for us that means late-night parties, cakes, balloon drops, and two daily schedules, both for May 4th (not making that up – check out the picture). Even though I’ve been planning this cruise itinerary for months, I didn’t really get…
