50 years later

Backpacking through Europe 

We are a week away from our “Adventure” and getting very excited.  A very “young” elderly good friend once told us that the secret to enjoying life at any age is “Don’t let the old man in!”….Live life with the same enthusiasm you would in your 20’s and 30’s – just make the necessary adjustments.  Never say I’m too old for that.  Good advice? – we’ll see!   

 We had cancelled a big European adventure when we were in our 20s because we were blessed with the news of the beginning of our family arriving.  We were thrilled with the news, and then were busy for the next 50 years with all that goes with families, careers, homes, communities and wonderful stuff. We did some travelling but never pulled out our “adventure” plans. 

Fast forward, the years are flashing by and we decided it was time to dust off the plans and try again. 

At age 20 we’d planned on two months…with a strict budget,  no specific plans or itinerary, a train pass, no hotels and no return date. We’d planned on dorm hostels, meeting locals and experiencing different cultures and foods and we would have enjoyed roughing it.  

Now many years later- we are still on a tight budget, still packing our belongings into a backpack, still no return date – we have our train pass, we have a loosely mapped route, we are staying in some hostels (not dorms), a couple nights in hotels, but mostly Airbnb’s. Roughing it less (we hope). We still plan to experience different cultures and foods (I’m sure fewer pubs and more focus on food and sites this time around).  We will come home when the money or energy runs out. (Hoping for 2 plus months – we’ll see!)

We leave on Feb 19, when we fly to London, but quickly will move to Spain where it’s warm. We will travel through Spain and Portugal and Morocco for a month – then we’ll move north as spring arrives and the weather warms.   

We’ll stay in touch – our phones, texts and emails all will work (we hope)  – please stay in touch too! 

Our friends and family have asked us to post pics and some highlights along the way. We have loved “armchair travelling” with our friends over the years so will try to post for those interested in sharing our adventure too.
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Month #1 – We will be flying into London and then heading to Spain (Barcelona, Valencia, Seville),   Morroco (Tangiers, Chefchaoun) and  Portugal (Tavira, Lagos, Lisbon, Porto, Douro Valley)

Month # 2 plus – We head to Italy (Naples, Amalfi Coast, Pompeii, Rome, Florence and Tuscany, Venice), Austria (Vienna), Switzerland (Lucern, Wolhusen, Interlaken, Singriswill), Germany (working our way up the Rhine coast staying at different villages and ending with Cologne), Holland (Amsterdam, Monnickdam), Belgium (Brussels) and flying home from Paris.