Category Archives: Travel

Au revoir Paris! A la prochaine

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What do we like to do in Paris? Eat, drink and walk. And walk. And walk, We arrived in Paris on Friday evening and by Tuesday evening we had walked 40.4 miles and climbed over 100 flights of stairs! That is what comes of staying near enough to Montmartre to making walking up feasible, and also from having friends who… Read more »

Sous le ciel de Paris

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Hearts full of memories and longing, we headed to St Pancras Station in London to climb aboard the Eurostar to the Gare du Nord, Paris. Customs was efficient , vaccination cards required, and one Guiness and one glass of white wine in hand, we boarded our train. Despite a delay once we re-emerged from under the English Channel (une fatalité… Read more »

If you can, take the train to Oxford!

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We had never been to Oxford, and this weighed on me heavily. So armed with advance (cheap) tickets that I purchased on Trainline, we ubered to Paddington and hopped onto our train to Oxford. We were able to walk from the station to our hotel and then set out to meet our guide for our 3 hour bike tour of… Read more »

Food glorious food!

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Over the years, we have had some animated discussions about the food in England with our friend Alex. He and his wife Sheila  insisted that the food was good here. Not being a fan of mushy peas, I begged to differ. Okay, so maybe I’ve been won over–although I’m still not a fan of mushy peas. Lately, we have had… Read more »

Golden hours, golden years

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Despite my not so distant ancestral roots, the UK took us a while to love. In fact, it took decades. In our youth we struggled with the weather, the food and the prices. We spent the first 6 weeks of our aforementioned epic journey in 1972 traveling through England, Scotland and Wales in our tiny, red Renault 4L. The weather… Read more »

Two canaries return safely from the mines: a return to international travel

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INTERNATIONAL TRAVEL IN AN ALMOST POST-PANDEMIC WORLD “Travel is the only thing you buy that makes you richer” – Anonymous. When Ray and I announced to friends and family that we were going on a two-week long Smithsonian Journey to Portugal and Spain in March the news was met with a variety of reactions: sharp intakes of breath, rolling eyes,… Read more »

The Lure of the Nile (London and Egypt, 2019)

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On my first trip to Egypt, I had traveled by dahabiya. The elegance and charm of that mode of travel can only be dimly imagined by those who have not experienced it. My boat had been equipped with every comfort including a grand piano in the salon and an outdoor sitting room on the upper deck. How many blissful hours… Read more »

Vietnam Part 2: The Center, straddling the DMZ

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Hoi An and Hué Danang is a sparkling new university town and its airport is just about 30 minutes from the tourist mecca of Hoi An. Leaving the airport with our new guide Hoanh, we were impressed by the clearly young and very smartly dressed population as they glided by on their motorbikes, iPhones at the ready. The streets were… Read more »

Next stop Bangkok!

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After we returned from Egypt last year, we couldn’t wait to book our next adventure! Southeast Asia had been calling me for some time and when I realized that Explore Travel and Cruises out of London, the agency that booked our splendid cruise up the Nile on the Dahabiya Dream also had trips to Vietnam and Cambodia, I did not… Read more »