The Plan and the Preparation
Yes! it is a long time to be gone, but in the planning it seems not enough. Maybe that is always the way with travel! In a way Carol and I rarely take "vacations" but rather we travel - which we consider just part of our life experience. We were fortunate to have a successful run in the restaurant business and mostly because it enriched our lives with a great family with our staff and customers and the joy of creating food and an atmosphere that was appreciated. Along with enjoying our career in the business you all know that our ten week annual closure of the Rhody was an essential component of what made the restaurant work for us, so a ten week excursion only seems fitting.
on our Latin America trip we took a year & a half ago we struck up a friendship with Jurgen and Sylvia who reside in western Germany and so our first stop via Frankfurt is Freisen, Germany.
After two+ weeks exploring their beautiful area we will fly to Santiago de Campostela, Spain and begin a seven week road trip through Portugal and Spain ending with a week in Madrid Spain.
.......but I am getting ahead of myself!
.....ah yes the preparation! We won't bore you with the shut down and security of the house and lining up house sitters and cat caretakers, but planning for a ten week trip going from fall into winter is something you want to get right! it almost makes the ten weeks turn into twenty.
Well of course there's the packing....and the repacking.....and so forth, but the logistics starts way before with lining up flights, rental car, researching the route, and lining up lodging (just in Spain in Portugal we have 13 airbnb's and 2 Homeaway accommodations). The lodging is a change for us as we usually wing it and don't plan it ahead, but we love the airbnb concept and have had great luck when we have used it in the past and since they have limited space compared to large hotels and there is a wide span in types of places to choose, we decided to go with the preplan.
So here we are just a few days from take off and we invite you to come along for the ride (via this blog) and, well.......we will see you down the road!
Don and Carol

Wishing you safe travels and wonderful experiences. Looking forward to hearing about your adventures.
ReplyDeleteThanks Patty!
DeleteHow exciting I get to go along this time with your blog. Have a wonderful trip and do not worry about the homestead.
ReplyDelete