Here I go again!

After returning to the States in mid-September, I spent most of the following 2 1/2 months just relaxing, reading and not packing and unpacking my suitcase on a daily basis!

I spent the first couple of weeks in Wilmington, NC with my good friends, Janet and Bob who, since I began traveling, have let me call their home ‘my home.’ While there I learned my scheduled knee replacement surgery wasn’t needed! It seems that lugging that big suitcase and backpack on and off planes, trains, buses and up and down flights of stairs had really improved my knee muscles to the point they didn’t need surgical enhancement at this time. Yeah!!!

Being blessed with more good friends, especially some who live high up in the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina and were willing to rent me their guest house, was just what the Dr. ordered after last summer’s marathon trip.

This perfect idle ended with a scheduled housesit in Chicago that began the day after Christmas. Returning to Chicago is ‘returning home’. This is where I get to catch-up with all my girlfriends, enjoy delicious food and drink, remember what winter is really like and spend time with my doctors getting my annual exams!

But tonight my sojourn has ended and I board my flight to Prague, Czech Republic where I will begin a 10-day house and pet sit. Then it’s off to Warsaw, Amsterdam, a return to the Isle of Man, Oxford, England, a 7-day self-driving tour around the south of Ireland, 5-warm and lazy days in the quaint fishing village of Ferragudo in Portugal’s Algarve before spending a final week in Lisbon. And from there, I will return to my other home in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico.

Some of the stops I will be making are house and pet sits, some are to visit old friends, some are just time to visit a city I haven’t visited in 50 years. But for the final 3 weeks of the trip – Ireland and Portugal – I’ll once again be joined by my merry traveling partner of last summer, Joyce, who will fly in from Atlanta and meet me at Gatwick Airport to once again share another adventure.