Friday, 22 July 2016
Sheraton North Houston — Houston, Texas
Temps: Hi 97F (36C) / Lo 77F (25C)
We put our ‘home-on-wheels’ to bed this morning, thus marking the beginning of this year’s overseas trip.
Once the putting-in-storage chores were done, the car service we had pre-booked delivered us to the Sheraton North Houston where we are spending the night. Although we arrived hours before 3:00p, the front desk accommodated us with early check-in. Lunch was self-catered in the room; and dinner will be as well since we brought with us the odds and ends in the fridge … didn’t want to just throw them out.
As readers of the blog know, our overseas trips tend to consist of a bunch of smaller ones all strung together. This year is no different. Our Europe 2016 plans have three distinct segments.
First, we will spend nearly a month exploring the Netherlands, which neither of us has been to before. Next, we will do a two-week Scandinavia & Russia cruise … round-trip out of Amsterdam. We’ve spent time in a few of the ports on the itinerary, but most of them will be new-to-us. Finally, we will head over to Turkey for a month for our annual family visit. Somewhere in there, Mui will go to Rome for a week with his mom and sister. I’m still not sure what side trip(s) I’ll be doing with my family … will make those plans once I arrive in İzmir. And then it’s back to the US for the rest of the year.
This year’s trip to Europe comes at a time of increased terrorism threat — domestic or international … doesn’t matter — and turmoil on the continent. Even as I write this, the news channels on TV are covering the most recent attack … this time in Munich, Germany. Our international travel motto is to not let the attacks scare us into staying at home. Rather, we will exercise even more vigilance than we usually do as we go about our travels. We registered our trip with STEP [Smart Traveler Enrollment Program] and are receiving alerts and warnings for the countries we will be visiting … forewarned, as they say, is forearmed.
[For those not familiar with STEP, this is a free program established by the US Department of State that allows “… U.S. citizens and nationals traveling abroad to enroll their trip with the nearest U.S. Embassy or Consulate.”]
We turn on the TV in the room to breaking news from Munich, Germany.
The 24-hour window to check in online for the IAH-AMS flight tomorrow is about to open. Time to post this blog entry and fire up the United app on the phone to complete the formalities. Later, we’ll go down to the lobby where the Sheraton has set up a computer/printer specifically to print boarding passes … never a bad idea to have paper to back up technology ;-)
Happy trails to one and all … enjoy what’s left of the summer. Personally, I am keeping my fingers crossed for cooler temps in northern Europe.
© 2004-2016 Two to Travel. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED by ERIN ERKUN.
