Family and friends, As some of you turn on your evening news tonight, you may see news reports of civil unrest from Bangkok and begin to freak out because you read our last update that said we were heading to Bangkok. First and foremost--WE ARE SAFE and SOUND. The news reports will reflect that thousands of demonstrators are blocking access to the Parliment building here in Bangkok. These demonstrators are from the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD). Right now, we are one block off of Khao San Road which is located about 2KM from the Parliment building. In a couple of [View Full Entry]

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The last update left you with us boarding a Blue Star Ferry on our way to Naxos, Greece. When people think of the Greek Islands, they typically think of the five most popular islands: Crete, Corfu, Mykonos, Rhodes, and Santorini and tend to overlook Naxos. Naxos is a hidden gem in the Greek Islands. It happens to be the largest Island in the Cyclades group of islands. Our original plan was to spend a few weeks in the Greek Islands and use Naxos as our base. Greek island hoping is extremely popular with tourist and independent travelers throughout the summer months. [View Full Entry]

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Here are the birthday greetings for October. First, to John, my husband, confidant, travel buddy, lover and most of all my best friend. Love you forever and ever, amen. (9 October) Tracy, Lynne's neice in Kingsland, Georgia. (1 October) Scott, Tracy's husband in Kingsland, Georgia (2 October) That's all for October. If you would like to have your birthday posted on the blog, please send us an email and let us know so that we can be sure and incude you. John and Lynne [View Full Entry]

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Athens has become our favorite capital city in all of Europe. Athens has a flavor that is most appealing to the both of us. It certainly has the historical flavor with all of the ruins and archeological sites, but the people of Athens make it a very unique city. It is a bustling, cosmopolitan city boasting a population of about 3.9 million people. Nearly 17 million people visit Greece each year and most of us transit through Athens on their way to the many beautiful Greek Islands. This is our second visit to Athens together. We had previously visited nearly [View Full Entry]

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Return to Rome Our return to Rome proves to be far less dramatic than Julius Creaser’s return to Rome. We arrive via train from Venice on Tuesday, 2 September. We had previously visited Rome for 5 days this past February. We immediately notice the sweltering heat compared to our last visit where we had to bundle up. We also notice that the number of tourists has increased tenfold. Upon arrival, we check in with the TIC at the train station. This one specializes in booking accommodations. We chat with a guy at the TIC and explain we are looking for a [View Full Entry]

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Anyone traveling through Europe MUST experience the travel opportunity of an overnight train. I guarantee it will be one memory of your trip you will never forget. This is even more memorable if you travel through some Eastern European countries. Our first overnight train ride is from Venice to Budapest. We board the train and get settled into our private cabin. We had several options on this overnight journey. We could have gone in to the second class coach which was nothing more than reclining chairs. I called this the peasant section because this folks were packed into these co [View Full Entry]

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Here is the Happy Birthday shoutout for September First and foremost: Hapy Birthday to my lovely bride and travel partner Lynne. (25 September) Happy Birthday to Vickie, Lynne's sister in Pensaola, Florida (19 September) Happy Birthday to Larry, Lynne's Brother-in-law, from the mountain top in Tennessee. ( 25 Spetember) Happy Birthday to Page, Lynne's Great Niece from Kingsland, Georgia. (28 September) We did not brng our complete list of birthdays with us. Help us out by sending us a message with your birthday and we will send you a Happy Birthday shout out from somewhere [View Full Entry]

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Venice—Many people will say that it is one of the most beautiful cities in Europe. I’d like to get some of that stuff they are smoking because I certainly didn’t see what they were seeing. I guess most of these folks must have visited the coffee shops in Amsterdam before coming to Venice. To be fair, we were only in Venice for the day, so I guess we missed most of the beauty these folks must have seen. Venice is a very unique city built on 118 islands in the swampy marshes of the Adriatic Sea. Some fun facts include 150 [View Full Entry]

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We depart Zermatt on the 25th of August and board the train to our next destination. We say farewell to the magical mountains of the Swiss Alps. Next stop on this journey is Northern Italy. We have absolutely no clue how we will proceed with this leg of the trip. After chatting with Travis recently, we realized that we could wing it a little bit more as we progress on our journey. We head towards Milan with no reservations for accommodations. This is a huge leap for us, but we are willing to give it a shot. We arrive at the [View Full Entry]

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Family and Friends, We have received numerous comments and questions about our safety during our travels. Many of you are genuinely concerned about this and we greatly appreciate it. In the near future, I will publish a feature where “Safety Dude” will make his grand, public debut. Although Safety Dude has already had brief exposure on this blog, he will grace this blog with his presence and put some of your concerns to rest. Safety Dude is now part of our traveling team. Let’s see, now we have John, Lynne, Marco and Safety Dude. Wow what a team. Stay tuned fo [View Full Entry]

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