The journey begins at home, when you zip shut all the pouches and sections of your pack, sling it on your back, step out your door and walk down 24th st to the BART station at Mission St, get on the next train going to SFO and ride to the airport.
Last year, that's 2023, I went to Europe in April-June. The weather was pleasant, although the sea temperature was still cool when I went to my island. It was a fine trip, although I never got around to posting or sending around my pix and stories. The lingering effects of the pandemic meant fewer crowds.
Now this year is 2024, and I went to Europe in July-September. This time I decided to get a domain name so I can have more control over the order and arrangement of my pix & stories.
OK, so this travel blog is just a collection of pictures that I liked along with some comments. It's not a travel guide, and not comprehensive. It's highly personal. Well, if you've been looking at my older blogs on Tumblr, you know. (&BTW, thank you for your kind words with regard to those..)
In 2023, I went to London first, as I generally do, then took the Eurostar to Paris for a week, then Athens, then my favorite island of Ikaria. I returned to Athens where I met my friends Scott and Val, founders of the theater company I'm in -- Performers Under Stress (or PUS). We went to the altar of Dionysus to offer a libation and ask for divine assistance in our theatrical projects.
Finally I went to the awesome cities of Spain: Barcelona, Madrid, Toledo, Sevilla, Valencia.
This pattern is often repeated because I always look for the cheapest air fares to anywhere in Europe using Google Flights, then book cheap European fares to Athens. This usually results in flights from SFO to London and returning from Barcelona to SFO, (or vice versa) for a total trip length of around 5-7 weeks.
In future iterations of this blog, I will include pictures and remarks from previous trips to Paris, Venice, Zurich, and from other Greek islands, which I have omitted for various reasons. Also, I will add the ability for visitors to post their comments, since that might be interesting to future visitors. Finally, I may answer questions, and even give recommendations about places I have been. Maybe even offer a travel guide service... That might be a fun way to help pay for my travel addiction...
This year I skipped Paris because the Olympics were going on, and friends told me it would be expensive and crowded. Now, after hearing stories about street parties outside of the event venues, and all along the Seine, I'm sorry I avoided the city. Yes, it was expensive, as I was afraid it would be, BUT this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to party in Paris. What's money for anyway, if not to spend on parties and fun and joy and beauty.
Also this year, for some reason, doing the usual process, I booked a trip that was just under three months -- a pretty epic journey. I don't know why I did that. Maybe it was time for me to think about what it would be like to live in Europe. Did I find that out? Don't know yet.
My new domain name comes with email, so you can comment at:
Old Tumblr Blogs
These were my first travel blogs when I used Tumblr. They may have ads in them and may contain trackers and crackers and crack, for all I know. Also stuff out of order, etc. I switched to publishing my own website with my own domain name to have more control.
Do NOT go here first. Instead choose a country from the footer at bottom. When you are done with those countries, you may be insane and want to look at yet more pix and pointless remarks by me.
Then you may come here and select from below.