We kind of took the easy way out on this trip and used a company called Pacific Trade Winds to help us plan our trip. They had a nice service, and Amy, our person on the ground in Costa Rica, was very helpful. At any rate, we kind of just accepted the lodging and transport that they […]
Travelling
Selvatura
We’re baaaack! Ellen and I, and our good friend Marlene, flew into Liberia, Costa Rica on the afternoon of Saturday, December 30th. It was 14 degrees below zero when we left MSP. Liberia had a high of 90 degrees the day we arrived. The sun set quickly, so we weren’t able to see much as […]
Back and Loaded
Sorry for the delay in posting. It’s been a busy several weeks since arriving back. We’re also suffering a bit of “extended travel readjustment affliction,” or EXTRA. (One of EXTRA’s symptoms is photo forgetfulness, so you may see a dearth of photos.) Now, about four weeks since returning, we’ll try to catch you up on what’s […]
Oslo, and Goodbye
Happy American Independence Day! Well, all good things must end. This will be the last post from Europe. From Oslo we fly via Reykjavik to JFK and Montclair, NJ where we establish a beachhead in North America. We didn’t have much time in Oslo, but we were able to walk up Karl Johan Gate to […]
Kristiansand and Flekkerøy
One of the joys of travel is meeting people on the road that you otherwise would not normally meet. Ove and Bodil fall into this category. We were seated with them at a table for lunch one day, and a friendship bloomed. We, and others, had dinner together after debarking in Barcelona. Now we were […]
Stockholm
We took the train from Copenhagen to Stockholm. We were impressed with the similarities between the landscape we were going through and the landscape in northern Minnesota. Granite, lakes, pine, and bogs were common along the route. It is very flat, and we have since found out that they have quite a few moose. Johan […]
Popping Down to London Town
Given that Ben and Lisa were working on Monday, we decided to pop on down to London. We grabbed a fast train, and 40 minutes later we were at King’s Cross, where we hopped on a “hoho” bus (hop-on, hop-off). This was both good and bad. The good was that they furnished disposable plastic ponchos […]
Cambridge with Lisa and Ben
One of the great joys of travel is running into a “relative separated at birth.” We aren’t sure if Lisa is Ellen’s daughter or sister from a previous life, but ever since running into her looking for the same restaurant in Evora, Portugal, there has been a connection. This connection was strengthened when she and […]
All Bikes Have Bells
Derek has been a superb host in Amsterdam. Amsterdam is a biking kind of town. Reports suggest that there are between two and three bikes per person in Amsterdam. There are bike lanes and routes everywhere. There are bicycle parking lots that hold thousands of bikes. And all of the bikes have bells. Tourists or […]
The Algarve
We took the overnight from Madrid to Lisbon. It is the only train between the two cities, and runs on old, bumpy, slow, and uncomfortable track. One would think that Spain is not the largest trading partner of Portugal. As we arrived at 7:20 in the morning, we decided to head straight down to the […]