New Beginning: sunrise over Venice

I believe it’s time now to begin this blog again. Last October I returned home from a wonderful trip to Greece, Turkey and the Mediterranean, ready to write about my adventures. Four weeks later my life changed completely when my beloved husband, George, died.

George gave me a precious gift: the opportunity to pursue my many interests. The best of these occurred in 2001-02 when we traveled around Europe for eleven months! We sailed to England on the old QE2. We traveled from Ireland to Russia, from Norway to Spain. My life was changed forever.

A few months after George’s death I bought a small cottage in the town of New Bern, North Carolina. We had been living in a golf-course community outside New Bern since 2001 but I wanted an older, smaller home in town.  I found the perfect place. Moving and settling in has taken months! Then I spent more months planning a gathering of family and friends to honor George’s memory in our Massachusetts home town. Shortly after that I was made a member of a jury for a trial that lasted for weeks.  Then I was asked to create a slide presentation for my 50^th high school reunion. When I returned from the reunion a few days ago my head was filled with ideas for my future travels and for this blog. I’m ready to begin again.

I hope my blog will encourage others to explore the world. Get off the bus! Skip the cruise! As a retired travel agent I’ve often helped clients spend $12,000 for a two-week European vacation for two people. With that budget I could travel around Europe for three or four months!

Here’s my advice to those who want to be travelers, not tourists: Invest your time and money in really discovering new places. This blog was begun to share little-known places that I’ve enjoyed. On this blog I’ll create pages filled with ideas and suggestions to help you make traveling more interesting, more comfortable and more affordable. I’ll share with you links to websites and blogs that I find very useful.  Please share your “finds” with me in the “Comments” section below.

I hope you’ll want to come along with me!