travelogues
October 2010
Egypt Mom & I take a package tour
called "The Splendors of Egypt" and boy- did it deliver!
April - May 2009
London
& the Lake District We decide
on some quality time just in London, and tack on a trip to the northwest
for some inn-to-inn hiking in England's famous Lake District. I even
sneak in a visit with family!
Trans-Atlantic Cruise We just can't resist these incredibly cheap travel opportunities. By the sail date, the cheapest cabins had gotten down to about $20 a day!
September - October 2008
East Coast US This long-awaited trip was worth all the anticipation; a long-overdue chance to visit family & old friends & visit our old stomping grounds throughout the northeast.
May 2008
Italy, Croatia + Slovenia
After a long visit with our friends on Lake Garda, we drove south through
Italy, then ferried across to Croatia. We drove up the beautiful
coast and spent a few days in Slovenia, before returning to home base.
Visits to Venice & London capped this journey.
January 2008
Buenos Aires Trading
winter for summer in this huge and enchanting Argentine city.
November - December 2007
Ireland We started with a week in Dublin, then spent
another week exploring Cork, Killarney, & Ennis. How's first visit,
and I had last been there in 1980 -- my how things had changed!
Spain Then on Barcelona for the second time this year, with a side trip Bilbao to see the Guggenheim.
Trans-Atlantic Cruise Sailed the other way across on the Norwegian Gem, a brand new ship, 93k tons of fun with a Wii in the lobby, a great steak restaurant, bowling, and some of the comfiest lounging opportunities I've ever felt. There was one stop in Malaga but we didn't get off because it was really our only day to sunbathe on the deck. Spoiled rotten!
May 2007
Trans-Atlantic Cruise + Barcelona
Major coup - sailed the Regent Seven Seas Cruise Lines ship Voyager
from Miami at a deep discount. Enjoyed a penthouse suite with a butler and free booze.
Stops in Madiera, Lanzarote (Canary Islands), Agadir & Casablanca (Morocco), Malaga
& Valencia (Spain) over 2 weeks, PLUS another week in Barcelona (our
final port) and a week in Italy for HLY!
February 2007
Big Island of Hawaii
Finally made it to the active island! Stayed in Volcano National Park first night,
touring in the misty rain the next day, then on to a giant Hilton on
the sunny (leeward) side. Had fun driving cattle for a few hours on
horseback!
September 2006
Caribbean Cruise
Took the Caribbean Princess with pals Betty & Tom, How's dad Arn & wife
Carol, & Carol's daughter Cindy & her partner Marcia (no Brady Bunch
jokes). Rented a boat in St. Martin, enjoyed great snorkeling in the Bahamas,
& tried our hand at "snuba" on St. Thomas.
June 2006
Vancouver Cruise
Another departure from San Francisco on the Celebrity Infinity. Stopped in
Victoria for tea at the Empress Hotel then spent a couple of days in
Vancouver, consistently rated one of the most livable cities in the world.
March 2006
Mexico Cruise
Sailed directly out of San Francisco on a Princess ship. Stopped in
Catalina, Cabo San Luca, Mazatlan (for more riding with "Randy's Happy
Horses"), Puerto Vallarta (where How & I demonstrated our cruise snobbery
by not even getting off) and San Diego on the way back.
November
2005
Maui Return to Maui for some true do-nothing time.
This time we split our time between Ka'anapali Beach & Hana, down
south. Pretty remote, and not much there; FedEx doesn't even service
Hana!
June 2005
Caribbean Cruise
On the RCCL Voyager of the Seas, with How's dad Arn & step-mom Carol, my
mom, Jo, and cruise pinch-hitter Barb. First stop was a private
beach in Labadee, otherwise known as Haiti, but who would want to go
there? On to Jamaica, where Mom & I did a zip-line tour of the
treetops, & then Grand Cayman, where we swam with huge, gentle stingrays.
December 2004
Oahu Spent
Christmas in Waikiki with pals Betty and Tom and their kids. Tom,
being a JAG, could get us into some awesome empty beaches tucked away on
the bases!
May 2004
Catalina Island I
hadn't been to Catalina since I sailed over with my old (since first
grade!) pal, Leslie, & her family in 1976, and was long overdue for a
visit. On the night before sailing over, we spent a night on the
Queen Mary! It was great to fill in my memories of the island from
20 years ago, except I skipped recreating getting chased by wild boars
with Les.
April 2004
London Spent a
lovely week on the north side of Hyde Park, including a horseback ride
through Hyde Park! Very weird watching the Iraq War news on the
BBC...
November 2003
Southwest US Roadtrip
I took 4 days & drove our "new" Sequoia home across the southwest,
taking in Big Bend and Joshua Tree National Monuments.
October 2003
Tijuana Traveled
down by bus with sister Stephie and her greyhound rescue group to see the
track & facilities where the hounds come from.
August 2003
Nevada Desert
Burning Man!
May 2003
NYC Howard & I
executed a home exchange for an apartment in the West Village this month,
providing a rare opportunity to play tourist in the other City that's
played such a big part in our lives. Our biggest coup?
Discovering the Magnolia Bakery before everyone else.
March 2003
Costwolds & Bath UK Howard & I flew to
London & spent a long weekend driving around Bath and the Cotswolds.
February 2003
Caribbean Cruise On the
Carnival Imagination with How's family and college pal Barb to celebrate
Arn turning 70. A long weekend toodling around
Key West & Cozumel. Karaoke with my nieces!
December 2002
Maui This was our "Honeymoon" & my first ever trip to the islands
and boy, do I ever understand why they're so popular. It's hard to
put a finger on it - the relaxed attitudes? The sunshine? The lush
fragrant greenery? The miles of beaches? Dunno, but it gets
you. As an added bonus, we snuck in a tour of Pearl
Harbor while waiting for our flight back to the mainland.
May 2002
West Coast RV We took
the Coast Starlight overnight train up the coast to Seattle, where we
picked up our first ever RV. Then meandered down to Mt. St. Helens
(which I hadn't seen since a few months after the eruption in 1981).
On to Ashland for the Shakespeare Festival, then Crater Lake, and a drive-by sighting
of Mt. Shasta & the Klamath Basin.
October 2001
London We exchanged with
an antique poster dealer named Kiki for her charming flat in Nottinghill
(of movie fame). London (english speaking, marvelously familiar) was the
perfect antidote for any ambivalence we might have had about traveling
after the terrorist attacks.
May 2001
Mexican Cruise Our first
cruise, on the Carnival Elation. We boarded in LA, spent
3 days at sea, then hopped up the Mexican coast from Puerto Vallarta, to Mazatlan, to Cabo San Lucas.
Had great fun riding "Randy's Happy Horses" through a pineapple plantation
& on the beach in Mazatlan.
March 2001
Yosemite Surprisingly, we opt this time for
a traditional vacation; we booked a room in the palatial Ahwahnee
Hotel in Yosemite and alternated between hours-long hikes & relaxing in
the "coats & ties required" dining hall.
Fall 2000
Tuscany Another home exchange, this time
to a classic medieval fortress hill-town in Tuscany. Col-de-Val-D'Elsa
bears a fascinating & diverse industrial history, much of which
depended upon a network of water-filled tunnels constructed under
the village a century ago.
Spring 2000
Northants UK Canal Tour Who needs a house when you can
boat? Howard & I joined the floating ranks when we boarded a 40
foot long, 7 foot wide canal boat in Gayton. For the next 5 days we
slowly meandered the Industrial Revolution era canals northwest of
London.
August 1999
Provence Howard & I did our first home
exchange together - a 6 week summer hibernation in a luxurious new
home in Puylubier. About 20 minutes east of Aix-en-Provence,
Puylubier had an atmosphere of a medieval village, but 2 terrific
restaurants.
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