Blue Whales and the Straits of Gibraltar

After five monotonous sea days on the cruise ship, Vision of the Seas, we made land in the Azores Islands. We disembarked as quickly as we could…and boarded a smaller boat.

Blue Whale

The Futirisimo took us on our quest for dolphins and whales. I can’t say it was the best whale watching experience I’ve ever had (I’m not sure anything will beat the first time we went off the coast of Ecuador), but we did get to see a mighty Blue Whale.

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Through the Kingdom of Neptune

After being at sea between Galveston and San Juan, we were happy to be on land for two days in a row.

I fell in love with St. Thomas, to the point I had Curtis checking out flights for a future trip. This would be a great island to spend a few low-key weeks. Read more →

Planning Our Epic Mediterranean Trip

I went to visit my friend Lois last year. Not too long after I walked in the door I said “I want to take a repositioning cruise!” She said ok and that she also wanted to spend a month on the French Riviera. So began our plan for our Mediterranean trip.

By the time I left her house 5 days later, we had booked a cruise from Texas to Barcelona, an apartment in Barcelona for five days, an apartment in Cassis, France for a month, and our flight home three weeks after that. Over the course of the next few months we added houses and hotels on Sicily, hotels in Rome and London, and planes, trains and automobiles in between.

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Why Would Anyone Want to Go to Croatia?

Our (Much Too Short) Stay on the Istrian Peninsula

 

I can’t tell you how many times we were asked this question while we were planning our trip to Croatia. I suppose people from the states still associate Croatia with the Yugoslav wars. In reality, there is very little to remind you of the war that ended in 1995. Croatia is a beautiful country, with friendly people, excellent food, and an interesting history.
 
We actually started our adventure from Trieste, Italy. We drove our cute little Alfa Romeo south from Trieste, through Slovenia, and into Croatia. Our first stop was Umag, a port town almost directly across the Adriatic Sea from Venice. We stopped for a quick lunch before hitting the road and heading further south.
 
Sometimes things happen to change your plans. Read more →

Border Crossings In The Balkans

Prior to our trip to the Balkans, we had heard some of the border crossings could be difficult and that people had been turned away. We were especially concerned about the crossing entering Bosnia and Herzegovina from Croatia at Neum, just north of Dubrovnik, and again when you cross back into Croatia. Bosnia and Herzegovina has a small (5 mile long) stretch of coastline so you have to pass through that country if you’re driving south along the eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea. If we couldn’t get across that border we couldn’t get to our next destination, Dubrovnik.
All told, we drove across borders into/from former Yugoslavian countries eleven times: Read more →

Our Low(er) Cost Trip from
London Heathrow to Trieste, Italy

Curtis and I are always looking for ways to travel just a little bit cheaper, without giving up basic comforts. On a recent trip to the Balkans, we decided to try Ryanair. I had first heard about Ryanair, a low-cost airline in Europe, in 2004 and had wanted to try them ever since.
 
The biggest issue we’ve had with the airline is that it flies out of smaller airports, and it’s not real convenient. We finally decided to bite the bullet. We flew into London Heathrow from D/FW and arrived in time for breakfast. We’re really big fans of an English breakfast, so we stopped at The Globe in the Arrivals Hall. We had hot tea, fried eggs, toast, grilled tomatoes, hash browns, and of course what the English call baked beans (what we call pork and beans). If you’ve never had pork and beans on toast, you are missing a treat! This breakfast is one we recreate at home fairly frequently.
 
After breakfast, we just had to walk to the Central Bus Station Read more →

These Travelers Went To Market

Curtis and I love to go to markets whenever we travel.

The first market we ever went to together was in Athens, Greece, on our honeymoon. We had just spent several hours wandering around the Acropolis and surrounding area and happened upon a flea market. It was block after block of…well, stuff. Old shoes, kitchen gadgets, chess sets, tools, pictures, jewelry, pottery, and statues. The one thing we remember about this market, and it’s a vivid memory, is the gyro stand. Gyro stands in Europe are amazing…the meat (chicken, lamb, beef) is pressed into a huge “loaf” and then stuck on a vertical rotisserie stand. The rotisserie spins, allowing the outside of the “loaf” to be cooked evenly. The meat is then carved off the “loaf” and served in a pita with tomatoes, tzatziki sauce, and, in this case, French fries. It was absolutely delicious! It was so delicious that 3 weeks later when we returned to Athens to catch our flight home we went back to the same gyro stand. And the owner remembered us!

Seattle's Pike Place Fish Market

Seattle’s Pike Place Fish Market

Seattle's Pike Place Fish Market

Seattle’s Pike Place Fish Market

Of course, one of the most famous markets, at least in America, is the fish market in Seattle. The Pike Place Fish Market is famous for the way the fishmongers throw the fish that have just been purchased to the person responsible for wrapping them. We also enjoyed a delicious Philly Cheese Steak at Philadelphia’s Reading Terminal Market. But let me tell you, these markets are nothing like markets in other countries.

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I Don’t Like Bugs…
Wow, Those Are Cool Bugs!

Bullet Ant

Bullet Ant

I don’t like bugs. OK, let me clarify; I don’t like normal, everyday bugs. June Bugs are nasty. Flies and mosquitos need to be banned from the earth. Beetles are only good for crunching under your shoe. Cockroaches…well, nobody likes cockroaches. And don’t even get me started on brown spiders; I’m scared to death of them. All of them. Even daddy long-legs. But Black Widows don’t bother me…go figure.

But show me a bug that is different than those I normally see and I think they’re cool! That’s one of the reasons I liked the Amazon so much…the bugs are pretty darn amazing. Read more →

A Trip Down Memory Lane…
Cologne and the Rhine Valley, Germany

Our Trip to Germany and Czech Republic

Cologne and the Rhine River

Part 2 of the Series

 

At the Hauptbahnhof

At the Hauptbahnhof

After a great nights’ sleep in Frankfurt, we headed to Cologne (Köln for you German-speakers). We were able to leave most of our luggage at the hotel in Frankfurt and just took what we needed for an overnight trip. We walked to the main train station (hauptbahnhof) and bought our tickets for the ICE (intra city express) to Cologne. This particular train travels at 150 mph…pretty darn cool!

The Cologne bahnhoff was very busy and crowded, much more so than Frankfurt. We checked our one bag at an automatic luggage machine; you put your money and your luggage in the machine and it gives you a baggage claim card that you’ll need to retrieve your luggage. The luggage is taken downstairs via a little elevator inside the machine.
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A Trip Down Memory Lane…
Frankfurt, Germany

Our Trip to Germany and Czech Republic

Part 1 of the Series

 

Red LIght District

Red LIght District

We flew from D/FW to Frankfurt, Germany and arrived at 7:30 am.  We took the train from the Frankfurt airport to the Frankfurt Hauptbahnhoff (main station).  From there, we walked to our hotel.  As is our custom when staying in hotels, we booked the first night online before we left the states.  We had chosen the hotel because it was close to the train station.  We soon found out the hotel was in the red light district, directly across the street from strip joints and brothels.  Read more →