Michael and Kathleen Casey

Mikatyadventures

Michael and Kathleen Casey

We are a non working (retired sounds so boring)couple, in our early 70's, married for 50 years this coming August 2014 and hooked on adventuring. We have traveled a great deal of the world from Europe (east and west) to Africa, Asia, the Middle East, Mexico and Central America. We lived for extended periods of time in Ethiopia, The Czech Republic, Mexico and Scotland. As you can see, we have a lot more exploring, adventuring and learning to do.

This time we are off to Turkey in a small camper van via Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Sicily, Albania, Macedonia and Greece. Our return drive from Turkey will include Montenegro, Kosovo, Croatia and Austria(of course even good plans have a way of going astray when something really interesting pops up). We hope to spend most of our time finding, learning about and sampling good food and wine and, of course, visiting interesting places. So....let's go and see what pops up.

A quick note to all of you

North America » United States » Washington August 13th 2014

Mikatyadventures

This is just a short note to all of you concerned that we had not sent anymore blogs and wondered what happened to us. First...we are fine, healthy and safe. We are in Sequim WA and doing our home search on the Olympic Peninsula. We like the place a lot and believe we will move here as soon as we can sell our place back in AZ. Lots of opportunities to buy a home or a piece of land and build one. The weather has been fantastic and we know all to well it will change come November. We finished our trip in London visiting our friends Lesley and John for a few days. We had a great time visiting the Meridian Museum, a wonderful exhibit of the northern sea route to Russia during WWII and ... read more

Lula's Story

Europe » Bosnia & Herzegovina » East » Sarajevo July 11th 2014

Mikatyadventures

We met this man in a wonderful little camping place on the Drina river in Foca BIH. We often hear of the conflict here but not from one who survived it. This is his story. Lula’s story Lula is 63 years old and now a citizen of the USA. He has 3 kids, 2 born in Bosnia Herzegovina and one in the USA. Both of his sons are successful in their careers and his daughter is in high school. He lives in a large urban area on the west coast and will soon take a new job as a bus driver for the city. But that is not who he is or was. In the 90’s he was a influential land owner and a member of a small Serbian community near Sarajevo. In 1992, as tensions ... read more

Istanbul

Middle East » Turkey » Marmara July 4th 2014

Turkish Flag everywhere

Mikatyadventures

The Egnatio odos runs from Thess.. about 40 K to the border with Turkey and as you get near the border the road feels like a WWII leftover… good thing we have a sturdy vehicle. The border was the toughest one we have encountered yet. The Greeks are not enamored of the Turks and vice versa so they take it out on the crossers. We had heard that the crossing can take 4 hours but it only took us 1…probably because we are Americans. We almost made it in 20 minutes but the 3rd gate we went through, the guy must have forgotten to tell us our insurance was not any good there because the German rental company had checked the wrong box. So as we got to the last booth the guy pointed at us ... read more

Northern Greece

Europe » Greece July 3rd 2014

The Balkans

Mikatyadventures

Northern Greece Thessalonica to Alexandropoulos and Back The coastal highway (Egnacia Odos) from Thessalonica to Alexandropoulos is one of the best highways we have driven on this trip. Recently completed, it connects much of northern Greece to Turkey. We caught it after a nice trip from Eastern Macedonia and were able to get to Thess… easily. So let’s back up a bit. After leaving southern Albania we took a cross country drive into Eastern Macedonia to Lake Ohrid and a small town called Struga…probably not on most maps today but they have big plans. With a river going through town, a walking street and some very upscale restaurants, it is going to go big time soon. We stayed at Camping Rino (pronounced reeno) on the Lake for a few days. It was a wonderful little place ... read more

Albania, Beautiful, Exciting, Extreme and Dangerous

Europe » Albania » South » Himare June 29th 2014

A mountain road to die on (1)

Mikatyadventures

Albania Beautiful, Exciting, Extreme and Dangerous to Our Health Looks like this statement is going to need a bit of explanation. We had never been to Albania and kinda thought we might not get there this time given our change in ferry destination and a desire to go to a national park in Macedonia. All that changed when, after debarkation from the Greece Ferry, we drove for about 2 hours, planning to head for Macedonia, when we both became very sleepy (not much sleep the night on the ferry). We stopped in a pull over on the road and tried to get a bit of shuteye. After 45 minutes of sleep it became much too hot to stay there and we started to see if we could find a camping area near us on our way ... read more

The ferry from Italy to Greece

Europe » Italy » Calabria June 23rd 2014

Walking the horses in Reggio'

Mikatyadventures

Taking a Ferry from Italy to Greece If it can go wrong it will Yes, just a little disorganized. Our plan was to take the Ferry from Bari Italy to Durres in Albania. But, before we made reservations we got advice from our traveler friends from Munich that the ferry line we had chosen was not too dependable. They recommended we take the “superfast” ferry from Bari to Igoumenitsa Greece. “Much better”. Hmmmmm!!! With that we reserved a “Camper Special” fare that allowed us to sleep in our camper while it crossed the Adriatic Sea. This meant we would be put on the “Open Deck”. Great, we have the cheapest way to go and we don’t have to sleep in a hot stateroom. What could possibly go wrong? 1st problem; we never received a confirmation from ... read more

Italy

Europe » Italy » Calabria June 20th 2014

Halfway to Sicily

Mikatyadventures

We have been in Italia for just a week, driving from the Swiss border to Agrigento Sicily, about 2300 kilometers. Some days were long and a bit tiring but mostly we moseyed along the coast when we could. Our impressions are what follows. Hope you enjoy them. DRIVING: The autostradas (Italian Motorways…not FREE ways) certainly get you from one place to another faster than other roads but have no personality. Multiple lanes with lots of construction 130 kph speeds that no one follows….the minimum is generally double that….except us who drove max 120 and usually between 100 and 110. We kept the trucks company in the right hand lane. Safer? You say….Well that depends on your definition of safe. At our speed, we were Mario Andretti targets for those who see themselves as race drivers in ... read more

Frankfurt to Northern Italy

Europe » Switzerland » South-West » Interlaken June 13th 2014

Our home in EU

Mikatyadventures

Frankfurt , Switzerland, North Italy Border Our flight left on time from Vancouver and arrived early in Frankfurt Germany. We grabbed our luggage, hailed a taxi and headed for the camper rental place. We were early but they seemed not to be concerned. “Everything is organized well here and we are ready for you.” Hmmmmm! After signing multiple forms, paying out more $$$, having interesting discussions about why our Insurance had not been OK’d, the camping gear we ordered was not in the camper we began to doubt the “well organized” part but finally got on our way….4 hours later. With somewhat vague directions we found a grocery store and after using Galaxy’s (our smart phone’s name) translator APP 15 times we found enough food to eat and some basic supplies. Off to the campground (CG)…we ... read more

Green Valley to Bellingham WA

North America » United States » Washington » Bellingham June 8th 2014

Utah Pass

Mikatyadventures

So, we pulled out of GV just about an hour late and headed for Payson AZ for our 1stday out. The truck, as usual, performed really well except for our brakes. They began to chatter at low speeds and then increased to anytime. Since we had just had them serviced, we got a bit nervous. Good thing we have an electronic exhaust brake or we would have been in some real trouble. We overnited in an NF campground and left early the next day. We got as far as Camp Verde and, electronic brake or not, we had a problem. Stopped at the Ford dealer and met a service tech from Seattle. The brakes had over 100 K miles and the rotors were not just warped but gone. Ok, just $500 bucks and a lot of ... read more

Homeward bound

South America » Ecuador » North » Quito August 31st 2013

Peace

Mikatyadventures

We are on our way and, for at least few days, we will not have to be concerned that the USA has decided yet again to go to war with yet another bad actor in the middle east. Let us hope that one more day becomes many more days and another solution is found. Via Con dios amigos....... read more

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