We are not seasoned globe trotters, not even close. But, from our limited experience, it is our conclusion that one should not make any judgments about a trip – particularly an international one – within the first 24 hours (perhaps even 48). This theory held true when we traveled with Ben and Scott in 2012 and became miserably lost looking for our London flat. It also played out when we arrived in Nice in 2014 to a deluge of biblical proportions and then walked for 15 minutes (in the rain) to the train station to find that we could not get any French person to make eye contact with us, listen to our earnest yet flawed French queries and explain how the train ticket system worked.
And, as we ventured forth again to foreign soil, we found that the combination of jet lag X unfamiliar customs X limited language skills can combine exponentially to make you wonder why the hell you are spending thousands of dollars for the privilege of this torture.
But then you get some sleep (the most important part of the equation), you meet some simpatico souls, you look around in awe – and you’re back in business.
Wow, I took way too many words (as usual) to get to my point: like many things in life, travel takes some effort and a smattering of faith to arrive at your destination. You may encounter bumps along the way but if you hang in there, you’ll be rewarded.
We made it from Frankfurt to Oberammergau (still in Germany). What a lovely village! Here are a couple of pics:
I’m too tired to write any more tonight! We’ll explain how we made it to France in the next post. ☺
Thanks for posting, Laraine! These blogs have been pretty boring so far. We’ll try to spice things up going forward!
Pictures are great! Love the castle, of course! Glad you are getting a little bit caught up on jet lag ??. Hang in there and ENJOY!!
So much for 4:00 in the morning. “Spendy” Internet plan. “Gute Nacht”…
It is the middle of the night (3:44AM), I couldn’t sleep so I thought I would check on how you two are doing.
Looks to me that it is a bit rough, except maybe the eats, but things are progressing well. We leave early tomorrow to head to Seattle for our flight to London, then Istanbul on Sunday. Ben will be interested to hear that we DID book an excursion into Istanbul on October 23rd (Reiko’s 39th birthday…LOL!). So we will see some of the sights and smells of Istanbul. We are a bit nervous, but excited. sounds like Marty and Bunny are really having a good time trying to navigate the surroundings. I will try to facebook a few things while gone, but not sure how good I will be at it from my Samsung S 5. T-Mobile says we have unlimited text and internet while in the countries we are going to. Not on the ship though. Internet only if I decide to buy the spending internet plan.
Patrick and Reiko…. October 10th 2015
Been thinking about you and Reiko! I’ll check your Facebook page to see how things are going. You will have a fantastic time!
I liked how you described jet lag: torture. So true. And you are right… Give it a day or two.
On to the fun!
🙂 One should not make big decisions – or even minor ones – when in the throes of jet lag!
Looks like a great town! Love you guys!
Love you too, Ben!!! Thanks for checking in. Wish you were here!