“It’s a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road…there’s no knowing where you might be swept off to” -Gandalf

January 2020: Purchased one way tickets to Tromso, Norway.

May 2020: Cancelled flight to Tromso. Stupid Covid!

January 2021:  “Certainly by now things will be back to normal and we can return to Norway.” “Normal” is nowhere to be found. Stupid Covid! So let’s go someplace even farther north than Tromso. Thank you Alaska! You’ll do nicely!

January 2022:  “Normal” has apparently enjoyed working from home in its pajamas and not showering. However, there are reports that ‘normal’ has begun venturing out in public. Might international bicycle travel actually be possible? With covid on the decline and the world gradually returning to ‘normal’, what could possibly go wrong? Along with the rest of the world we’ve watched in horror as a maniacal dictator unleashes war and destruction in Ukraine, and threatens peace and security around the world. Against that backdrop, our travel plans matter little.

Early this year, with normal seeming possible, we purchased one way tickets to Athens, Greece and planned to spend five months bicycling through Greece, Turkey, Albania and points north as time allows. Now with Putin acting the fool, we definitely have questioned the wisdom of those travel plans. But ultimately we’ve decided that even against the backdrop of war, our travel plans really don’t matter. By that we mean several things. 1) Our plan is to follow through on our plans, however, we recognize our travel plans truly are not important. There will be no whining if world events dictate a change in plans. 2) Nothing we do (stay at home vs travel to Greece, etc) will change world events in the slightest. Our travel plans don’t matter. Thus we will attempt to follow through on our plans 3) We recognize that we are blessed. We are extremely grateful for the freedom to travel, to meet people, to experience cultures. Building bridges across cultures always seems like a good idea…especially in times like this.

With our departure date looming, we’ve been busy. As we’ve said before, it is one thing to prepare for a weekend get away or two week vacation. Preparing to travel by bicycle through different countries for five months…that’s a completely different beast. There have been doctors visits, lab visits, tax man visits. We’ve spent hours on the phone and internet gathering information and considering routes, making sure finances and travel documents are all in order. Given that we’re both traveling through different countries, and also different climates and seasons, there have been endless discussions about clothing and gear. I’m not complaining. The whole process of planning and preparing is part of the fun of travel.

We’ve been making our lists and checking them twice. We are cautiously optimistic that we may be ready. We have one last day in Flagstaff before flying to Texas. We’ll be making a brief stopover there to visit nephew Eric at Goodfellow AFB. From there we hop across the pond to London, then on to Athens. We are beyond excited to be on the road again seizing the carp! Once again I will attempt to provide updates on a weekly basis. If you haven’t already done so, sign up to receive email notifications and a handy link to new posts. Just scroll all the way down and enter your email address. We look forward to having you along with us.

“I think I’m quite ready for another adventure” – Bilbo Baggins