Let the 2013 Travels Begin

Friday, 23 August

Except for some catch-up posts, this blog has been dormant for a while.  The time to change that is now upon us.  By Sunday evening, we will be in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada to begin our 3½-month vacation from our nomadic lifestyle in the motorhome.  Not that we intend to stay put on vacation.  No; that just isn't our style.

Here’s the story of how a simple two-week trip mushroomed into a multi-country adventure encompassing the Arctic, the Mediterranean, and the Atlantic … I guarantee your head will be spinning by the time you get to the end ;-)

Our vacation plans started small with an expedition voyage to eastern Greenland booked for mid-September. Then we added the preceding voyage to western and southern Greenland to our plans.  All fine and dandy, and quite simple — the ship will take us where it takes us.  No real planning needed.  Except … we decided to give ourselves a few days in Ottawa before joining the expedition passengers.  Still not that complicated.

This glimpse of ice choked waters and glaciated lands on our way back from our 2011
Svalbard expedition is what leapfrogged Greenland to the top of our bucket list.

But wait ... the second leg of the Greenland voyage ends in Iceland.  How can we not take the opportunity to explore Iceland when we disembark the ship?  OK; let’s add a couple of weeks there to the trip and do a self-drive around the island.  Now things start to get complicated — we actually have to plan where to go, what to see, how long to stay where, and on and on.  Still not a biggie.

But wait ... seeing as we’re already in Europe, we should make our annual trek to Turkey, too.  All we need is a flight or two to get us there.

But wait ... see that cruise from İstanbul to Rome in November?  If we book it, we can then stay on the ship for the TransAtlantic Crossing from Rome to Florida.  Yes, it will take just short of a month to make it back to the US, but we’re retired … we have the time.  And it sure beats the alternative — a long-haul flight over the Atlantic!

But wait … we now have almost a month in Turkey.  What shall we do with all that time?  How about a Blue Voyage with my family for at least part of that time.  Perfect!  After all, cruising the Mediterranean on a small boat has also been on our bucket list for a while.

But wait … that’s only one week. What about the other three weeks?  We need some downtime; we’ll wing the rest of the time with our respective families.  No sooner we made that decision that Mui’s mom added a bit of complication to his family-time by requesting they go to Paris for a few days.  Up for the challenge, Mui added planning that trip to his agenda.

All those “but wait” moments make our “snowballing vacation plans” sound like a commercial for a made-for-TV product, don’t they?  We’ve laughed about that these past months — helped save our sanity a couple of times ;-)

Our "But Wait" moments all mapped out!

The departure date that seemed so far away is now imminent.  Our bags are packed; the Phaeton is going into storage tomorrow — along with the toad [for those not in the know, that’s the vehicle we tow with our motorhome].  We’re staying at the Marriott tomorrow night and flying off to Ottawa Sunday morning.

I don’t know how often I will be blogging while we’re on vacation.  In any event, the posts will likely be in the nature of “teasers.”  Part of the reason for limited posts will be internet availability — or lack thereof.  The more important reason — I’ll be out exploring.  Writing can wait until later ... experiencing the moment can’t.  Whatever I post will be in this blog, and I’ll probably Google+ the posts as well.

And so … let the 2013 games travels begin!