Cyclades Islands in Greece

Oia Shopping

Fira

Our Hike from Oia to Fira

Our Mode Between Islands

When I Grow Old

By Jain

When I grow old
I want to remember
The places I have been,
Not the places I didn't go.

When I grow old
I want to remember
The good times,
Not the bad.

When I grow old
I want to remember
Friends and loved ones that added joy to my life,
Not the people that didn't.

When I grow old
I want to be happy with my life
And not wish I was young again.

When I grow old …

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Blue and White

By Jay

Most buildings on Greek islands are painted a brilliant white with a rich blue trim, complementing the country's flag, the whiteness of clouds and blue essence of sky and water. On a bright day the white can be a little hard on the eyes but round corners and archways soften the architecture and the buildings blend well with the steep terrain.

Many buildings of diverse use and ownership, angles and elevations make for interesting, photogenic views. In older sections of towns the streets and walkways meander back and forth across the landscape in confusing patterns and it can be difficult to get directions from locals and they will often just choose to walk or drive you to your destination. A good compass and sense of humility are good tools for finding your way.

Easter in Greece

By Jain

Paros Greece Saturday April 30th
By Jain

We arrived in Paros after a 3 hour ferry ride from Santorini. The town is buzzing because it is Easter here. Lucky us we get two Easters this year. Greece celebrates its Easter according to the Julian calendar rather than the Gregorian calendar as we do in the Western world. Easter here is the biggest holiday of the year and overshadows Christmas by a long shot. It has nothing to do with  easter bunnies, easter egg hunts, hollow chocolate rabbits or candy filled plastic eggs. Instead this religious holiday centers around lamb roasted on a spit, wine and family. Oh yeah and making the traditional treats like Easter cookies and Magiritual soup. For you lamb lovers that is soup made from lamb innards, egg, and lemon. Since I don't care for lamb that much I doubt if I would like the soup. (Saved by the bell).

So let's see Friday April 29th was Good Friday; today Saturday April 30th is called Easter Saturday; Sunday May 1st is Easter Sunday; Monday, May 2nd is Easter Monday referred to as Bright Monday (also known by our family and friends as our 38th wedding anniversary); and Tuesday May 3rd will be Labor Day and May Day. Come to Greece if you want a good time if you like holidays and of course like lamb.

We are staying at Joseph Apartments in Parikia, Paros. It has a kitchen, living room, bedroom, and bathroom. It is nice, clean and basic and for $40.00 a day can't be beat. It also has the standard Greek bed as hard as a rock. I am sure if you slept on the floor  you could not feel a difference. It is pure torture. Over the years traveling so much I have encountered beds that were equally miserable. I usually find creative ways to make them bearable; padding them with extra blankets, pillows or towels, borrowing pool lounge cushions, flipping the mattress, or using a blow up rubber pool matress. Here was easy, I slept on the futon in the living room... problem solved.

This morning, Easter Saturday, our landlord delivered us traditional Easter homemade cookies, and two hard boiled eggs dyed red. She explained the tradition of rapping the end of your egg against a friend's egg to see which egg cracks first.The one whose egg cracks first loses and ensures the winner will have good luck for the next year. She also invited us to join the rest of the town in the main square at 12 midnight for candle lighting complete with fireworks, drums, singing and church bells.

Today we took a long walk around town trying to find where we attended the Nose, Flipper and Hat party at a local seaside tavern 30 years ago. We never found it but did find the pensione we stayed in and also the fountain where I hid a present for Jay on my compass scavenge hunt I planned for him back then. On our walk it was fun to see the locals preparing for upcoming festivities including preparing their lamb spit in their yard.

I like Paros. I don't especially like holidays; everything usually is closed. Here everything seems to be buzzing at least for today.  Shops are open for business and almost all the restaurants are working like crazy preparing for their 5 course Easter meal complete with lamb,and that yummy lamb soup.

Opah!!!

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Paros Poppies

On PAROS

By Jay

Passport Renewed

I just received my renewed passport and putting the old one away reminds me of all the great destinations recorded there. 130+ stamps and many Visas make for great memories.
I'll be curious to see how the TSA agent reacts to this new one.

Home is where the heart is

I think that is how the saying goes. At any rate, it's also a good place to do laundry, download the pictures, open the mail, check to see that all bills are paid and re-stock the refrigerator.

All in preparation for the next trip...

Approaching home

After 14 hours of travel we decide to spend the night at the Peppermill in Reno, rest up and make the final forty miles in the morning. By coincidence there is a fire conference here at the hotel and I was able to slip through the gate keeper in the exhibits area and look for friends. I'm reminded of my age when out of three hundred+ folks attending, I can't find one. Life goes on,

Homeward Bound

So we made the 5:15 and now sitting out a three hour layover in the Delta lounge at JFK and reminded how much we dislike this part of travel. It's bad enough sitting in an airplane but at least it is moving in the desired direction. 

It's All About the Miles

We presently have more than a dozen future flights booked with Delta and we frequently check our bookings for schedule changes. One of our trips is coming home from Quebec by way of New York (JFK) and Salt Lake City (SLC). We made this booking when we bought the train tickets across Canada from Vancouver, B.C. back in November. We paid for the flight with accrued miles plus a few hundred dollars in taxes and fees.

 

Wouldn't you know, the little regional airline company (Delta Code-Share) that takes us to JFK changed their schedule to a 5:15 a.m. departure from Quebec. Delta took it on themselves to change our itinerary to earlier flights from JFK and SLC which we would normally applaud, BUT, the seats we had on the original flights were premium "Comfort+" and we got really bad seat assignments on the revised schedule. Now JFK to Salt Lake is over 5 hours and in seats that don't recline would be torturous. O.K., so our Platinum Elite Plus status with Delta has made us a little spoiled.

 

Hey, we're still learning… Four phone calls to Delta's Premium Sales line and exploring half a dozen alternatives taught us a few things:

 

1.     Purchasing a flight with miles is a non-revenue flight and puts us at the bottom of the pecking order in terms of complimentary upgrades.

2.     We can't use the upgrade certificates in our account on non-rev flights.

3.     We can't revert to our original bookings from JFK to Reno (which would mean a 7 hour layover at JFK) because everything on the later flights are sold out.

 

Somewhere in the discussions and looking for alternative routings using the "Flexible Dates" feature on Delta.com revealed a First Class fare on the day before our original departure of under $600 USD; what a steal! All three legs of the trip in the forward cabin? Hey, I can go for it. First Class fares from the East Coast are usually over $1,500 and then some.

 

So a fifth call to Premium Sales and we learned a couple more things:

 

1.     Talking to a real person can get you what you want if you ask the right questions

2.     The 25,000 miles we paid for the original itinerary goes immediately back into our account

3.     The taxes and fees are refunded, so the cost of the new First Class ticket is under $500 net.

 

We still love Delta…

 

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B & B's

B & B’s

The Evolution of Travel

Introduction

A good story should always start with ”in the day”, don't you think?

At least it helps me to recapture images and experiences and in forty+ years of travel we have certainly seen changes in travelers and accommodations. Travelers these days have larger expectations and I believe accommodations have changed to meet them. Technology has played a big part in making information available and assist in planning, getting where you want to go, when. Travel has become more accessible to more people,  modes of transport have become able to accommodate more people with a broader appetite for comfort and travel appeals to more people than “in the day”.

In the day, we would book a flight to Europe and accommodations for the first night at or near our destination and “wing it” from there. We knew where we wanted to go and experience but there was little competition for places to sleep. “Zimmers” in Germany and B&B’s elsewhere were simply rooms in private homes that could be negotiated for one or two nights; included a shared toilet down the hall, a hot water bottle or extra blanket and breakfast with the family and family pets. We occasionally had the pleasure of a family pet sleeping at the foot of our bed.

The owner’s expected that guests would go out and about during the day or move on to their next destination. They would often ask about our plans for the day and help us make arrangements for our next stop.
(to be continued...)

Cancun Here We Come

We are on our way to Cancun. Yes, that's right we only just got home a week ago... but hey we needed a break. Not really, but when we discovered we had a $2,400 credit for Delta airlines that was only good until mid-August (the literal interpretation we discovered is that we had to travel not just book by this time). Looking at our schedules and with a trip planned to Boston in July and upcoming dental appointments left us with little wiggle room...so it's go, go, go for us.

What was interesting when deciding where to go, turned out to be somewhat a chore (Really, we need to get a grip and give thanks). We spent close to an hour pondering spots to go. New Orleans... no just there, Quebec... too many plane changes, Montana too close, Hawaii.... just been there. Okay maybe Mexico. We have been to numerous places in Mexico but never to Cancun. That fact and the direct flight from Salt Lake made it a winner; besides the US State Department says Cancun is not under a travel advisory like most of Mexico (Meaning there has been fewer kidnappings, rapes and murders than other parts of the country). It is a well known fact the police have lost control, but what else is new. Unfortunately we have found out although Cancun's weather is nice and warm, they are also predicting thunderstorms and some rain, maybe a hurricane here or there. Oh well, so much for continuing to work on that tan. Cancun here we come, rain or shine.

We are traveling first class again because we had bucks to buy a first class ticket. It strikes me how much of a snob I really am. When I fly first class and Delta airlines runs out of champagne I am annoyed. I am annoyed when the raviolis are not quite to my liking, and the chocolate Sea Salt brownie tastes like something from packaged goods in a 7-11 store (I think they may be "Little Debbies" brand) but what is most irritating is the economy class passengers using our first class restroom (Now I know why the first class passengers are given real knives.) I comment to Jay, "Why can't those whoville people use their own restroom?" He replies, "Like we do when we are in economy class?" I reply, "That's different."

We are unfortunate to be flying with about 20 members of the "Shultz" family. We know this because they are all wearing "Shultz Family 2015 Reunion" light blue tee shirts.  That combined with the fact 19 young and old Shultz's have paraded to the first class bathroom. They are a happy lot, probably because they are taking a trip of their lifetime and probably because Grandpa Shultz is paying for it.  

Mexico ranks way up there with China, India and Egypt as a country having the most irritating touts.  On our visit to Cabo San Lucas a couple of years ago you had to literally fight your way through the airport amongst those who want you to buy a timeshares, stay in a vacation resorts, or sign up for leisure activities. In addition, there are dozens and dozens of taxi and transfer drivers waiting and wanting to transport you to your hotel. If given half a chance they will grab your bag and wisp you off with a big smile on their face.

We have learned it is worth paying the extra money to have our hotel have a driver waiting for us with a placard with our name on it. We have also learned other touts given the opportunity will copy your name they see on those placards and pretend they are your real driver. Thus the hotel will give you secret clues so you get the right driver. They will describe to you how the official driver is dressed and the particular location he will be standing. Of course the driver will only flash your name periodically, so other touts cannot copy it. It is actually like a secret agent mission. Now was it the guy in the khaki pants and blue shirt or the guy in blue pants and khaki shirt? I forget and don't have a clue. Maybe we were supposed to meet Professor Plum in the library holding a candlestick. But not to worry, we usually find our driver and pray we are not taken to a dark alley.  Of course if you are one of the Shultz family they will not be accosted by any of the touts, because doing so would mean putting up with the whole “fam-damily” and touts know it's not worth their trouble.

It is only a week since we have been home but I am happy to be travelling again. I look forward to our week in Cancun, and can only hope the Shultz family will not be staying at our hotel.  We are staying in a large resort thank God it is not an all- inclusive where you are served leftovers day and night, and you have to fight the crowds at the bar for watered down "well" drinks.  The Grand Fiesta Resort is large, meaning there will be a lot of tourists… meaning there is probably a lot more to write about since I am such a people loving person. LOL... To be continued.