It has been a very long winter. We had snow again today, but fortunately it did not stick. As a matter of fact, it is only 24 degrees F right now (7:34 PM EDT).
I have been busy reliving last year's trip to Europe and even though many of my photos have snow in them, I am truly enjoying the journey.
I have nine more posts to write. I hope to finish them this week. The trip itself started in Zurich and that is likely when my A to Z challenge will end. But, hint, it will also start in a city beginning with Z.
If I hadn't visited Zion Canyon I might have been writing about Zug Island last year. I think I have run out my luck with Z's. I think next year if I do the challenge I will have to switch from travel.
But I think being prepared this year has made it much easier. Not only have I tried to write all my posts in advance, I have scheduled them too. I plan to be busy with gardening, the new grandchild and my yoga in April. And as a trained Boy Scout leader, I still remember to 'Be Prepared.'
And that means keeping my passport current just in case some opportunity arises. You just never know. Meanwhile, I'll keep writing posts and enjoying my photos and memories.
Hope to see all of you in A to Z.
Showing posts with label Europe. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Europe. Show all posts
Wednesday, March 26, 2014
Tuesday, July 16, 2013
Staying in Touch in the 21st Century
Progress. Supposedly that is what they call this age of constant communications that we live in. But, I for one, am not so sure.
I have a cell phone. It is in my purse. It is not even on. I have it for emergencies. (I still have a land line.) I used to tell people that if I was so important that I needed to have a phone with me all the time, I would also have a red phone next to my bed. I am not and I don't.
I do not understand this attachment to phones and being in touch. I see women older than I am constantly with the phone in their hand. They are texting and talking and doing god knows what. They can barely take a one-hour yoga class between playing with their phone.
I am planning a trip to Europe for three weeks. I am debating whether to take my cell with international service for the month or just get a phone card. I started thinking back to what I had done in the past when I was out of the country.
On my last trip to Europe I did not keep in touch at all. I used no Internet, no phone. Nothing. If the world could not get along without me for eight days, then the world would just have to end. It didn't.
In 2000, when I went off to Australia, I bought a phone card and gave my staff and my family the code for it. We kept in touch that way by leaving phone messages since their day was my night. It worked just fine.
The year before I was on a cruise with Internet access so I just emailed everyone if they needed something. But that same year, I was also in Paris and did not communicate with home. I did, however, take a photo of a woman at the top of the Eiffel Tower talking on her cell phone. This beautiful view and she is standing their gabbing away on a phone.
I was discussing this via email with one of my children. I told him that the first time I went to Europe in 1969 the only communication I had from home was a bi-weekly pick-up of mail at the local American Express office. Everyone I knew had an itinerary for the trip (it was originally for 16 weeks, but a death in the family cut it short after 10) with addresses and directions to make sure they mailed it to a stop further down on the list than where we were.
Of course, back then I had no children or a job to worry about. Now I still have no job, but I have a home and children. I am sure they will be fine. And if something happens at home, there is not much I can do from some mountain in Switzerland.
So now, I will head off and finish part of that original trip, 44 years later, only this time I will not be traveling with 'Europe on $5 a day' as my guide. And I'll not be picking up mail at the Amex office. I may not even 'phone home.'
I have a cell phone. It is in my purse. It is not even on. I have it for emergencies. (I still have a land line.) I used to tell people that if I was so important that I needed to have a phone with me all the time, I would also have a red phone next to my bed. I am not and I don't.
I do not understand this attachment to phones and being in touch. I see women older than I am constantly with the phone in their hand. They are texting and talking and doing god knows what. They can barely take a one-hour yoga class between playing with their phone.
I am planning a trip to Europe for three weeks. I am debating whether to take my cell with international service for the month or just get a phone card. I started thinking back to what I had done in the past when I was out of the country.
On my last trip to Europe I did not keep in touch at all. I used no Internet, no phone. Nothing. If the world could not get along without me for eight days, then the world would just have to end. It didn't.
In 2000, when I went off to Australia, I bought a phone card and gave my staff and my family the code for it. We kept in touch that way by leaving phone messages since their day was my night. It worked just fine.
The year before I was on a cruise with Internet access so I just emailed everyone if they needed something. But that same year, I was also in Paris and did not communicate with home. I did, however, take a photo of a woman at the top of the Eiffel Tower talking on her cell phone. This beautiful view and she is standing their gabbing away on a phone.
I was discussing this via email with one of my children. I told him that the first time I went to Europe in 1969 the only communication I had from home was a bi-weekly pick-up of mail at the local American Express office. Everyone I knew had an itinerary for the trip (it was originally for 16 weeks, but a death in the family cut it short after 10) with addresses and directions to make sure they mailed it to a stop further down on the list than where we were.
Of course, back then I had no children or a job to worry about. Now I still have no job, but I have a home and children. I am sure they will be fine. And if something happens at home, there is not much I can do from some mountain in Switzerland.
So now, I will head off and finish part of that original trip, 44 years later, only this time I will not be traveling with 'Europe on $5 a day' as my guide. And I'll not be picking up mail at the Amex office. I may not even 'phone home.'
Tuesday, July 2, 2013
Wanderlust
Ever since I returned from my yearly trip to Oak Park, Illinois, I have been suffering from wanderlust lusting. The urge to travel has suddenly become very strong. I have always had my list of places I still want to visit and those I want to return to.
After reading Dan Brown's novel 'Inferno' I have a strong desire to return to Florence and Venice, Italy. It would be nice to visit and be able to enjoy it as a seasoned adult, not a starry-eyed 20-something.
The Rijksmuseum has finally reopened in Amsterdam and that, along with Bruges, Belgium are also on my list. I had actually never considered Bruges until I saw the film, 'In Bruges'. The scenery was exquisite.
Photo credit for Bruges
Then there is the two-week stay in Germany I have long considered. Or a train trip through Switzerland.
Closer to home is a stay in Santa Fe, New Mexico or one in the Canadian Rockies.
I'll keep browsing the travel sites and try to make a decision soon. The summer is slipping away and soon fall will be here, so I need to make my plans.
If you could go anywhere, where would you go?
After reading Dan Brown's novel 'Inferno' I have a strong desire to return to Florence and Venice, Italy. It would be nice to visit and be able to enjoy it as a seasoned adult, not a starry-eyed 20-something.
The Rijksmuseum has finally reopened in Amsterdam and that, along with Bruges, Belgium are also on my list. I had actually never considered Bruges until I saw the film, 'In Bruges'. The scenery was exquisite.
Photo credit for Bruges
Then there is the two-week stay in Germany I have long considered. Or a train trip through Switzerland.
Closer to home is a stay in Santa Fe, New Mexico or one in the Canadian Rockies.
I'll keep browsing the travel sites and try to make a decision soon. The summer is slipping away and soon fall will be here, so I need to make my plans.
If you could go anywhere, where would you go?
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