I have put off writing this account, but realize if I am ever going to complete the record of all my trips I have to get over this hurdle. 17 July 1988 Sunday. By now we had learned that if we were going to fly through JFK on the way to somewhere else in the U.S. it was better to stay overnight at a hotel near JFK, because late afternoon thunderstorms were likely to create havoc with all further flights that day. So we flew from Brussels to JFK and checked into our nearby hotel, just as everyone else whose flights we cancelled were looking for rooms for the night. 18 - 23 July 1988 Monday through Saturday. So with jet lag on Monday we caught a very early morning flight to West Palm Beach where ... read more

We always took a vacation for a week every spring. Often it was to the British Isles, as we loved lambing season with all the daffodils and tulips blooming. However, we hadn't been to Antibes in three years, and this would be the first visit with children. My committe wasn't meeting on May 12th, so on Friday, May 6th we headed south by way of Luxembourg. Metz, Nancy, Dijon, and Lyons where we got on the Autoroute to the Sun. At just over 700 miles, it is a long drive, not to be repeated again. Out next trip to Antibes would be seven years later in 1995, and we took the train. At least this time we had our car with us which came in handy for visiting Cannes and the hilltop towns such as St ... read more

As we had already done some travel this year and we would be going back to the States for Christmas. Besides, Linda was due to deliver our second child, Rosanna, in October. So we decided for our summer vaction to take a trip where we could stay in one place for a week. We hadn't been to Lake Chiemsee, south of Munich and at the base of the German Alps, since 1978 so I checked into what we could do there. I found out the the Armed Forces Recreation Center offered a six day "Learn to Sail" week with Red Cross Certification. Linda didn't think she would be able to do any sailing, but was more than pleased to be able to relax around the hotel. Besides, we could explore the countryside after my lessons, much ... read more

Our next NATO Infrastructure Committee visit was to Portugal. Mom and Dad volunteered to babysit Tamara, so that Linda could go. Linda was now three months pregnant with our second child. So this would be her third trip while pregnant; the others being Norway and Germany in 1985. My parents arrived in Brussels on 2 April, so they had a few days before we left to settle in. 6 April 1987 Monday. The committee members and spouses met at Zaventum Airport in Brussels where we caught a commercial flight on TAP to Lisbon. The committee then proceded to the Ministry of Defense for lunch, briefings, and an overview of what we would see in the coming week. Following this meeting we checked into our hotel where we had the rest of the evening free. Several of ... read more

For some reason Denmark and the UK always combined their trips. Denmark also had the distinction of not letting their delegate to the Infrastructure Committees take his wife on these trips, and consequently our spouses were not invited on the trip to Denmark. Therefore our spouses had to meet up with us when we arrived in Scotland. As my sister Carol was living with us, she babysat Tamara, allowing Linda to go with the other wives. 16 September 1986 Tuesday. We departed on a Danish military cargo aircraft from Melsbroek Air Base in Brussels to Karup Air Base on the Jutland Peninsula of Denmark. Upon arrival we had briefings and then toured the various airfield facilities funded by the Infrastructure program. We then had lunch hosted by the Danish military. Then we reboarded the plane for ... read more