2019 Travel

As we begin preparations for our 2019 travel, I want to take a look back at some of the places we’ve been in the past. We’ve cruised to Alaska, Puerto Rico, Aruba, and St.Marteen along with several other Caribbean islands. I must say for Carribean islands, Aruba and Puerto Rico were my favorites.

The food on the cruise ships was too much and too beautiful!

We also landed in a country that was once off limits, well technically still is, for American ‘tourists’. Our trip last year was satisfying because we were there to support the Cuban people.

My trip to India, seeing the Taj Mahal, a few years back was amazing. While I was there for work it wasn’t all fun, I certainly enjoyed the time there. The culture is line nothing else I’ve seen here in the US. And people were everywhere. I’ll never forget the family of five in a motorcycle! It was a scene that became all too familiar.

I’ve spent years growing up in Nebraska and on a working cattle ranch in South Dakota, but even then, I never saw the freely roaming cows like I did in India. It was s sight just to see them roam and how they determined the traffic flow.

Everyone was happy to see them, even in snarled traffic people remained calm. Nobody ever honked at a cow, but let me tell you, the only quiet place in India was inside. People were constantly honking their car horns.

Contrast the horns, the number of people in India to the quiet walkable streets of Zermatt, Switzerland. You see there are no cars in Zermatt, one must use your own two feet to get from point A to B. But most people who come to Zermatt come to get a glimpse of the Matterhorn.

For those so inclined, you can hike up to the Matterhorn and then ski across three countries. The Matterhorn is where Italy, France and Switzerland combine. It truly was an awesome sight to see the Matterhorn. In fact, we were lucky to see it from Zermatt. Many go to Zermatt, spend days, and were not as fortunate as we were. We saw it from the foothills the night before and then for quite sometime up the mountain to the observation deck. I’m not a fan of gondala rides so I wish there was another way up, but no regrets going to the observation deck.

oh the fondue….. it more than chocolate!

Speaking of observation decks, Pisa, Italy. The Leaning Tower of Pisa Italy to be exact. Yes, I walked up the dizzing spiral staircase to the top. It was not easy because it was a constant circle and the higher you went up, the more you felt like you were going to fall over. Then once at the top, you had 5 minutes to enjoy before being rushed back down the same steps.

I’m sure if you read the last paragraph, you noticed the use of *I* instead of *we*, that’s because he broke his ankle just a few hours before. Sure his ankle swelled up, but we didn’t know until returning to the US that it was actually broken. We finished our tour of Tuscany and then went to Venice for a couple of days.

Venice was a wonderful city, but for Italy my favorites are Rome and Florence. The pizza, gnocchis and everything that is true Italian food was excellent. True Italian food is fresh, without a strong garlic taste and without pounds of cheese.

Another European favorite was our trip to Russia. I must say it was so much more than I expected. We really enjoyed St Petersburg and Moscow. Now the actual boarder crossing was a little hair raising, but our tour coordinator helped us through the experience and everyone on the tour, including our bus made it through. I think our Polish driver helped a little when a Russian border agent appeared to be very interested in him.

Red Square, I was there!

Our trips haven’t always led us to exciting happy places, they have also included some real heart wrenching places. The one that comes to mind today is the Auschwitz Birkenau Concentration camp. We saw way more than we cared to see, but it’s an important part of history that should not be forgotten.

I never liked history much, thought the past was the past, but really after going to Auschwitz Birkenau I understand the importance of learning from the past and never allowing a repeat.

Our travel though Eastern Europe grounded us for sure. We heard the stories first hand from Germans, Pols, Czechs, Slovaks, Hungarians, and Austrians just to name a few. We are greatly and proud to be Americans.

Spain was our gateway to Morocco and it did not disappoint. The Moorish architecture was a great prequel to what we were going to see in Morocco. In Morocco, we felt safe and enjoyed every minute of our travels there. The food the people everything was perfect.

For those keeping track, you will note we’ve travelled to four of the seven continents: North America, Europe, Africa, and Asia. That means we must travel to South America, Africa, and Antarctica to have reached all seven.

So in order to move closer to landing on all seven, this year we are traveling to South America. I’ll update you on our travel plans on a future date. There are many countries in South America, can you guess where we are headed?