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When my step-sister told her younger son, age 6, that we had left Rome and went to Athens, he responded with “Rome conquered Athens years ago”. Technically, true, but not in our opinion. Athens was both friendlier and more welcoming than Rome. Almost everyone we encountered spoke at least a bit of English, which was great because we were completely out of our element language-wise. Rob and I both have enough French and Spanish knowledge Read more…

I have seen old things- I have been to Stonehenge and seen Hadrian’s Wall and hieroglyphs and many more amazingly old things. But I had never experienced ancient like Rome. I have never walked down the street and glanced over and just incidentally noted that the ruins next to me were from centuries before the Christian Era. I cannot wrap my head around what it is like to see those things so many times that Read more…

If you read the post on Cadiz, you can likely extrapolate WHY. We spent a really long time lugging A LOT of weight in the rain to send things home. Then the actual shipping cost us a fortune. Note to self for next time- DO NOT let the youngest bring his entire set of D & D books on the off chance that he’ll find someone on the cruise willing to play with him! After Read more…

We are losing track of days. I have spoken to retirees before who say without a job to go to, they lose track of what day it is. I have rarely experienced that before, as we seem to always have a marker to define our weeks- work, school (even if it is at home), sports, appointments, something. But not on a cruise ship. I didn’t even realize that we’d lost track of the days until Read more…

As the birthplace of Pablo Picasso, I should have expected the quirky beauty of Malaga but I was captivated. There are beaches, shopping, restaurants, and the Pompidou Center (a museum that looks a bit like a rubik’s cube- somehow I failed to get a picture of that!) within walking distance of the port. We took two cabs, as there wasn’t one big enough for 5, directly to the Museo Automovilistico de Malaga, however – a Read more…

Gibraltar is different than anything I’ve experienced. It was nice to be somewhere that used English everywhere, but it was so removed from anything that I had ever experienced that I kept finding myself SURPRISED when I encountered English. My number one travel advice for anyone visiting is DO NOT- and I cannot stress this enough- DO NOT believe any maps that you find or are given. Evidently, Gibraltans use this as a form of Read more…

Good day everyone!  Today’s entry will be narrated by a guest speaker, Rob.  Aimee is taking a well-deserved break this evening and has left you in my not-nearly-so-capable hands.  So off we go! After the Azores, we headed to the Canary Islands of Santa Cruz de Las Palmas, Tenerife, and Las Palmas de Gran Canaria.  All of these islands fall under the government of Spain so Spanish is the dominant language and all of them Read more…

We found several commonalities between the Azores and South Carolina… they have honeysuckle and hydrangeas, as well as quickly changing weather. They also have local aphorisms telling people they “experience all four seasons each day” and that “if you don’t like the weather just wait an hour and it’ll change”. We say the same things back home, but I may never repeat them now because it seems that we may not have the right to Read more…

As I previously touched on, Bermuda was cut from our trip due to the $40 per person fee that they require from passengers. It is their only remaining COVID requirement. We were given Newport, Rhode Island as a substitute, and whereas it is a lovely little town- it is not in the incredible blue waters near Bermuda, nor does it have lovely pink sand beaches. We did enjoy Newport, though we didn’t get to be Read more…