Mikayla has spoken: Greece and Turkey.

It’s a lot of work planning out these trips because we don’t do an organized thing. We do the whole thing from scratch, something I think can be compared to building your own house without a contractor. We are on our own…which is quite intimidating. But I’m getting better at it. Experiences like sleeping on the sidewalk in France and getting chased by an elephant in South Africa have helped me realize that things will work out. One way or another, things work out.

This will fulfill the promise I made to my kids several years ago, a one-on-one trip with each of them to wherever in the world they wanted to go. It has turned out to be one of the best ideas I ever had. The times spent with Aubree in Europe and Curtis in Africa are beyond words…and pictures. Two solid weeks alone with each of my kids, experiencing new things, learning new things…it’s an amazing opportunity. I am so grateful to be in a position where I can do this with them and to have a supportive wife.

So for any of you that have been to Greece or Turkey, please pass on your thoughts, ideas, and suggestions. We’ll be heading out in September!

If you didn’t start reading on Day 1, you might want to start from the beginning …

Long travel days suck me dry. Today started with an early ride on the metro to the airport. Of all the travelling I’ve done, Barcelona is the easiest and most affordable city for airport transportation. Most places will rake your wallet for a ride to get to and from the airport, but in Barcelona a standard inexpensive metro pass gets you there no problem.

Our first layover was in Brussels and for Aubree that meant one thing, Belgian Chocolate. She wasn’t too happy, however, to see it stuffed and sealed in the customs-friendly bag. She was  even less happy when I told her we couldn’t open it until we got home. After all, her argument to buy it was “Curti wants chocolate, that’s all he asked for…we have to get some for him!”

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If you didn’t start reading on Day 1, you might want to start from the beginning …

Our vacation has come down to this, one final day. The days have seemed so long and full of activities that at times it felt like this trip would go on forever. Yet now they have slipped past, much faster than I expected. But I think we are both ready to get home. It has been a fast-paced high-activity adventure and I am looking forward to getting home for some relaxation. But before that happens, we have one more fabulous day in Barcelona and we both are geared up to make the most of it.

We rode the metro down closer to the waterfront and were cutting through the Gothic section of town towards the beach when we stumbled upon a bicycle rental shop. We rented bikes and I have to tell you, after walking everywhere for ten days, it felt like a Dukati. We zoomed through the alleys, weaved through pedestrians, and in what felt like seconds had already reached the beach area. I felt like the whole world was within my reach on that rickety old bike as we covered in seconds the same ground we’d spent hours pounding on foot. We instantly agreed that renting bikes was one of the best things we’d done (but a big part of the thrill came from the build up of 10 days of hoofing it).

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If you didn’t start reading on Day 1, you might want to start from the beginning…

We walked all over Barcelona today. I started a little earlier than Aubs because she wasn’t ready to wake up when I did. I got ready and went out looking for somewhere I could some breakfast to bring back but at 7am on a Sunday morning there wasn’t a whole lot open. I bought some snacks and on my way back to the room, checked with the front desk at the hotel to find out how the metro system worked. After the long walk we took last night I knew hoofing it around all day wouldn’t get us to all the places we wanted to see.

The subways in Barcelona are excellent. Clean, easy, and they have AC! You can get anywhere and the various passes they offer make it extremely affordable. We could have stayed further out at a nicer place, which would have saved a few bucks and it wouldn’t have been less inconvenient. Aubs got ready and we took the subway down to the waterfront and decided to go see the castle on the top of Montjuic hill. My buddy Greg had told me to go see the monestary called Montserrat, but I messed up and we went to Montjuic instead, DOH! Another to do when I come back with Sandi.

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If you didn’t start reading on Day 1, you might want to start from the beginning…

Waking up on the sidewalk in a small French town isn’t the best way to start a new day. I was just happy daylight was around the corner. Domile and her friends packed up their bags, we all said a round of ‘good mornings,’ and then went into the train station. After looking at the boards, Domile laughed and said, “why did you let us get up so early, our train doesn’t leave for a couple hours!”

So Domile and Kernius played cards, I wrote in my journal, and everyone else crashed. We still weren’t sure how we’d get to Barcelona. We decided to try and catch a train across the border and then give it a shot from the Spanish side. The plan worked. Our four minute ride into Spain pulled in just as a train was departing to Barcelona. In fact we almost missed it because not everyone had cleared customs and I didn’t want to leave unless we all were able to get on. It just didn’t seem right to abandon them. But we all made it and were all on our way, finally. We were a short two hours away from our final destination!

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If you didn’t start reading on Day 1, you might want to start from the beginning …

We had to change our plans today. Instead of exploring Torino we had to start early for Barcelona because we couldn’t book a train straight through. They ticket agent suggested we go to Nice and book from there. We started traveling at 6:30 in the morning, too early for the free breakfast, and caught a bus to the train station. Little did we know that our travel day would not end until 11pm…and we would not reach Barcelona.

Our first train, to Ventimiglia, climbed up through the Alps. It was gorgeous. Everything was thick and green except where high granite peaks and cliffs cut through the vegetation. We passed over old stone bridges, through tunnels, and saw many little towns that either nestled in the deep valleys or hugged the side of the mountains. I wish we could have stopped and explored along the way because we chugged through some really neat places…and all I could do was shoot pictures through the horribly cloudy windows.

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If you didn’t start reading on Day 1, you might want to start from the beginning…

When our night sleeping in the brick oven was over and the sun came up, it cooled off a little. What is the science behind that? Today was supposed to be our day to sleep in because our train didn’t leave until noon, but it was just too hot. Taking a nice cool shower sounded too good so we got up earlier than planned and were able to spend more time walking through Venice.

We hit the shops again. I told Aubs I wanted to find a nice mask and we went to the shop we liked most. Their masks were beautiful and they were one of the only shops that didn’t have a “Thou shalt not touch” sign posted. They’d let us try them on and take pictures…so I wanted to give them our business. I found a gorgeous golden one that I think Sandi will like and will look great somewhere on the wall at home. I just needed to get it home in once piece.

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If you didn’t start reading on Day 1, you might want to start from the beginning…

My brother warned us about visiting Venice in August. I tried to talk Aubree out of it but she said it was the whole reason she wanted to come to Italy, so we skipped the expensive breakfast and caught an early train west.

We changed trains in Florence, a city I wish we could have explored if we had more time. Our train rides in and out didn’t offer much in the way of views so someday I’ll have to get back to Florence too see the most famous sculpture in the world, David. Out of Florence was passed through a lot of green hills, mountains, tunnels, and little towns. The ride was beautiful. It made me wish I had a sporty car or motorcycle so we could explore all the narrow windy roads and villages.

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If you didn’t start reading on Day 1, you might want to start from the beginning…

I always look for a hotels with a free breakfast. Most of the time they don’t cost more and it saves money on food. Eat a good breakfast, snack throughout the day (jerky and trail mix from Costco works good), and you can get away with only buying one meal a day (or less). Normally it works out pretty good…but not at the Monastery.

We ate our breakfast in the peaceful courtyard but then as we were heading out were informed our room had been charged $24 ($12 each). Apparently the Expedia line that said “all our guests enjoy a free complimentary breakfast” didn’t apply to us. I pleaded my case and lost. We had a “no breakfast room,” although nothing specified that on my reservation. I asked for a full detailed receipt knowing this fight was not over. If you tell me I’m getting a free breakfast, one way or another I’m getting a free breakfast. (After I returned home I took up the fight with Expedia and was first told they would not issue a refund but after requesting to speak to a manager, my request was granted.)

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If you didn’t start reading on Day 1, you might want to start from the beginning…

I woke up feeling normal, thank goodness my yuckiness from last night moved on. It sucks to be sick on vacation. Our original plan was to catch an early train north towards the Cinque Terre region but we had to extend our Rome stay by a half day in order to see the Vatican. It was closed on Sat because of a holiday, closed Sunday because it’s Sunday, and so we decided to hit it early Monday before the long lines formed. Then we’d go back to the hotel, check out, and catch a train north.

We arrived and the line was already halfway down the block and it didn’t take long for the sun to kick in with the heat torture. We bought some ice water from a street vendor which, for 1 euro, I thought was a great deal. I took advantage of the down time to read in the guidebook about what we would be seeing inside. I was even was a little frustrated once the line started moving and I had to keep putting down the book to move forward. It was fascinating to read about what I was about to see, the Belvedere Torsa, Laocoon and His Sons, and (of course) the Sistine Chapel. The museum sounded huge…packed with all kinds of art from the past two thousand plus years. And I was about to see it all.

We got inside and soaked up the rich history. I wanted to make sure we saw every inch and spent time on each item but as we walked and as the heat increased, I found myself walking faster and pondering less. Once I had seen the specific items on my list, I wished we could just take a shortcut to the Sistine Chapel.

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