Going MIA

[dragnlaw]

Andy, you will probably find you have free WiFi in ports but you don't HAVE to use it other than to report your weight and waist gain with all that free food available.

Last cruise my SIL took she lost something that she finally got back but it was a long time.... her ankles.

ENJOY!

 

[Andy M.]

Thank you Cheryl and DL.

It'll be an interesting vacation. We get to meet SO's great granddaughter for the first time (she's in Florida) and it'll be my first cruise.

 

[LPBeier]

Andy, have a great time! We had our first cruise a few years ago and it was marvelous!

 

[Andy M.]

Thanks, LP.

 

[Dawgluver]

Bon Voyage Andy and SO!

 

[Andy M.]

Thanks. Sitting at the airport waiting to board.

 

[Steve Kroll]

I'm getting excited! In exactly a week I am off to Spain for vacation (with a 24-hour layover in Paris). I used to travel out of the country often, but not as much in recent years. This is the first time I've been back to Europe since 2010, so I'm really looking forward to it.

From Paris, I'll be flying into Barcelona and renting a car to drive up to the Rioja wine region, with stops along the way in Zaragoza and Logroño. 10 years ago, my ex and I put up an exchange student who lives close to that area. So I'll be catching up with her. The best part is that this girl's dad is an accountant who works for one of the wine Bodegas in Rioja, and he is setting up a private tour. From there I'm heading up to San Sebastian for some beach time, and then driving down through Pamplona and through the Pyrenees, and finally back to Barcelona to spend a couple of days there sightseeing.

I'll have my laptop along, so I probably won't be completely MIA. I have several interesting food outings planned, so I'll post culinary updates when I can.

 

[Cheryl J]

Wow Steve...sounds like a wonderful trip! I'm excited for you, and can't wait to see lots of pics!

 

[bethzaring]

Hey Steve, I will be very interested in your trip. Dh and I are planning a trip to NE and NW Spain to visit where his ancestors came from. A friend of mine will be custom designing the trip but any input will be interesting.

Have a great trip!

 

[Steve Kroll]

Wow Steve...sounds like a wonderful trip! I'm excited for you, and can't wait to see lots of pics!

Oh, I just love driving trips Cheryl. Unlike other modes of transport, you can stop pretty much anywhere you want and be a tourist. I've got a 750 mile route mapped out for this one.

I did a similar Spain trip with a group of friends in 1991. We flew into Madrid and drove down through Toledo, Cordoba, Seville, and on to Gibraltar before heading back. Not one of us spoke Spanish, either, which made things very interesting at times. Unlike that trip, I have a translator app along this time.

Hey Steve, I will be very interested in your trip. Dh and I are planning a trip to NE and NW Spain to visit where his ancestors came from. A friend of mine will be custom designing the trip but any input will be interesting.

Have a great trip!

Thanks Beth! I definitely will let you know of anything interesting or useful I stumble across.

 

[Cooking Goddess]

I'm getting excited! In exactly a week I am off to Spain for vacation (with a 24-hour layover in Paris)...I'll have my laptop along, so I probably won't be completely MIA. I have several interesting food outings planned, so I'll post culinary updates when I can.

Have a wonderful time, Steve! If we don't hear from you, we'll know you're way too busy to deal with the real world.

BTW, I'm with you on the driving vacation thing. It's nice to get off the path and explore when time and weather allow. Then again, if I was getting only two weeks in a foreign country, I'd make the time and ignore the weather to see things.

Looking forward to your photos and travel tales, not to mention food porn.

 

[PrincessFiona60]

Have a great time, Steve!

 

[Just Cooking]

A wonderful trip.. Have great fun and be safe...

Ross

 

[dragnlaw]

Lucky you! Know you will have a great time. careful your app says 'you want a washroom' and not - 'you dirtied your pants' in the local dialect! LOL

 

[GotGarlic]

I'm getting excited! In exactly a week I am off to Spain for vacation (with a 24-hour layover in Paris). I used to travel out of the country often, but not as much in recent years. This is the first time I've been back to Europe since 2010, so I'm really looking forward to it.

From Paris, I'll be flying into Barcelona and renting a car to drive up to the Rioja wine region, with stops along the way in Zaragoza and Logroño. 10 years ago, my ex and I put up an exchange student who lives close to that area. So I'll be catching up with her. The best part is that this girl's dad is an accountant who works for one of the wine Bodegas in Rioja, and he is setting up a private tour. From there I'm heading up to San Sebastian for some beach time, and then driving down through Pamplona and through the Pyrenees, and finally back to Barcelona to spend a couple of days there sightseeing.

I'll have my laptop along, so I probably won't be completely MIA. I have several interesting food outings planned, so I'll post culinary updates when I can.

That sounds fabulous. DH and I drove around Ireland for a week in 2003; it's a fun way to travel. Have a great time.

 

[Kayelle]

Sounds like a wonderful trip Steve. Will you be traveling alone? We'd all love to join you for nightly reports on your own thread...hint hint. Have a fabulous time, and be safe.

 

[taxlady]

Sounds like a wonderful trip Steve. Will you be traveling alone? We'd all love to join you for nightly reports on your own thread...hint hint. Have a fabulous time, and be safe.

^^+1 Have a great trip.

 

[blissful]

Steve have a GREAT TRIP! If you get a few minutes, check out the Camino De Santiago, (the Way of St. James) a pilgrimage between a place in france, (St. Jean Pied de Port?) all the way to Santiago De Compostella, and
Pampalona and other cities are part of that trip. If you look at a map of the camino, you are crossing it pretty much.

People from all walks of life, all religions, all ages, walk the pilgrimage for spiritual, health, religious reasons, seeking many very personal truths and miracles. You will see the pilgrims with their backpacks, and they are called perigrinos, you can tell by the sea shell they have on their backpacks, a symbol of the pilgrim on the pilgrimage. The proper salutation to a pilgrim is Buen Camino.

If you noodle around on the internet you can find forums about it, and articles like this one: https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entr...ago-de-compostela_us_596c8dffe4b09e26b6d76953 and there is a movie about it called 'The Way', one of my favorites. Have a safe and fun trip.

 

[Steve Kroll]

Thanks everyone!!

 

[Chief Longwind Of The North]

Good Luck, Lyd. I'll keep you in my prayers.





+1 more for missing Pacnar.

And you are quite right, K-L, about it being part of the deal. I guess I am guilty of becoming thin skinned as well. My father's death has changed me (and I'm sure continues to do so ). I don't have the fight in me any longer, or rather in a less dramatic sense, I prefer to avoid situations and people that are continuously irritating and there appears no end in sight; no one to reign that in.

There will always be greener pastures out there on the internet, but I haven't forgotten my DC roots, and all the things that I've learned here, and all of the folks with whom we've shared our lives. I can only return once in a while hoping for good old times, but hope even more that great members like Pac come to feel the same way and give DC another shot.

BT, I always know that you are here to help steady the boat. I too don't frequent DC as much as I once did, but it's because I'm a very busy guy, taking care of my wife, work, and home. In the last year, I've completely swapped out our voicemail system, having to set up litterally hundreds, if not a thousand voicemail boxes, assisted in replacing our legacy phone PBX system with Voip, accross the Eastern half of the U.P., Stayed with DW as she went through major, risky surgery, and have been taking care of her, the house, and all that goes with that (had to pull the well pump 90 feet up and out to replace it, had to find and remove blockage to the septic tank, then the kitchen sing drain, again snaking 30 feet of plumbing to get rid of that clog) and the list goes on. I don't get lunch hours anymore as I have to drive home in that hour period to make lunch for DW, and sometimes, I even get to eat a bite for myself. The paycheck barely stretches from payday to payday, are having to purchase that new well pump for 560 bucks sure put a dent in that last paycheck. A couple of bills will be paid late. But that's just life. It's not supposed to be easy. It's supposed to teach us, to help us grow spiritually, and mentally.

So you see, all of my DC friends, I haven't abandoned DC. There are just too many things to do to spend much time at the computer. Well, gotta go. Making cream cheese/cherry puff pastries right now, at 4:20 in the morning.

Seeeeeeeya; Chief Longwind of the North