Traveling mercies.

Move along, move along, nothing to see here… while that might be what you’d hear at an accident scene, you have not arrived here by accident.
You are about to join us on our journey to ‘the continent’.  It’s been over four years since I’ve worked on a website (and never a blog site) I felt it was an opportunity to explore new worlds (both figuratively and literally) and hopefully have something intelligent to share.  Our goal is to broaden our horizons and come back with a more-rounded perspective of our life in Canada.

While I am beginning today with fervor and excitement I hope that I can follow through on my goal and I realize that not everyday will lend itself to producing an interesting synopsis of the day’s events, so there might be gaps where days are compressed or my energy is not up to the task. There has been much time spent since our decision in January on devising an itinerary that will begin in Spokane,WA on May 7 and eventually landing us in Paris on Tues. the ninth.  Over 100+ travel videos on YouTube, books from the library, and speaking with folks who have blazed the path before us has given me sensory-overload many times and driven me into the arms of the noble grape.

Carol is big on organization and has taken the lead on many facets of the trip.  I, on the other hand am traveling as her sherpa (porter) and to add colour (ie: alternate facts) in discussions with people that we meet along the way.  We started by booking our flights through Alaska Air and using their partner airlines as we have accumulated a lot of airmiles through them by using their credit card (highly recommended) and will be flying return for about $500cdn and a relatively modest amount of miles.  After some analysis we wavered between 4-6 weeks in length and finally decided on 5, plus the US travel time.  We chose early May – mid June to increase the likelihood of good weather and to avoid the insane throngs through the summer months.  The majority of the time we will be in France and Italy, with a few days in Spain (Catalonia) and a couple of nights in the Netherlands.  We decided early that we would only travel with carry-ons and no checked luggage.  We also will be staying at Airbnbs along the journey.  It provides much cheaper accommodation and direct contact with locals to guide us to the most economical use of our time and finding those hidden gems that travel books might miss.  We have 12 stops lined up along the way with 11 trains and one flight from Rome to Amsterdam to carry us along.