"Off the Leash" with David and Jean

So…..we’ve solved all of our issues and we’re good to go…. NOT!

After a long hike to the International Terminal, we find we need to check in again. This time with Qatar Airlines for our flight onward to Doha Qatar and Cairo. We proudly presented our paperwork only to be informed that they couldn’t check us in. Issue #1: The Covid-19 test results did not have an “Official” stamp on it. No problem…….we have our Covid-19 Vaccine Cards. Problem. Egypt requires a QR code which is (apparently) available if you’re vaccinated in Nevada. Wow! Didn’t see that coming. We retreated to the seating area and put our heads together. I downloaded an app and created a QR code. Sorry dude, it needs to be on the paper. Jean fished out the Official Nevada Immunization record which showed our vaccinations. Voila! The supervisor okayed it we were among the last to board. Gosh knows what we’ll encounter when we get to Cairo. As always, we’ll deal with it.

Our morning started with David very nervous about receiving our COVID-19 results in time for our flight. We’re required to have written proof of a negative PCR test taken no earlier than 72 hours prior flight time to enter Egypt. We made an appointment and had our noses swabbed on Sunday morning. It’s Tuesday morning, 4 hours before takeoff and NO RESULTS! I called Walgreens and they referred me to the Lab. I went online and was able to locate and print our needed form. WHEW!! Crises avoided

We Uber to the airport, check our bags and head for the dreaded TSA line. After a considerable wait and partially disrobing, we shuffled off to our assigned gate. A short 1 1/2 hour trip gets us to LAX for an invigorating 2 mile walk between terminals

Next stop, Hammad International Airport in Doha Qatar. A mere 8600 miles and a 16 hour plane ride away

After nearly two years of COVID-19 shutdowns we’re hitting the road again! We’re celebrating our 54th year of marriage by stepping out of our comfort zone and heading off to Egypt for a couple of weeks.

We both feel a bit like pin cushions after receiving all of our recommended vaccinations. In addition to the two doses of COVID-19 vaccine plus an extra dose of vaccine as a booster, we received Typhoid, Hepatitis A, Hepatitis C, Tetanus and Yellow Fever. I think we’re good to go!

I’ll try to add a few photos from trips we’ve taken since my last update.

I’m afraid that I have been very negligent in keeping our travel log up to date. I set it aside a couple of years ago and it’s time to bring it current. While life and laziness has kept me from posting updates, we most certainly haven’t been sitting still.

I update the blog with hope that others may find our travels entertaining and enjoyable to follow but, moreover, because Jean and I find great joy as we review and relive our adventures.

It was a quiet day for we travelers today.  We had coffee and a light breakfast in our room then off to the air terminal to see if our prospective ride home on Sunday was still a go.  It turns out that everything still looks really good 😊!  The crew that we came over with are going back to San Diego on Sunday and it looks like there will be room for us to tag along.  The plan is to leave here on Sunday morning and stop for fuel in Shannon, Ireland.  (Just enough time for a Guinness).  Back in the air, we’ll fly to Portsmouth, NH and spend the night. (Crew Rest). We take off on Monday and head for Jacksonville, FL to drop off some people then on to Point Magoo, CA to drop off a few more.  We’re projecting our arrival back in San Diego at about 11:00pm on Monday.  That’s the PLAN………..we’ll see how it goes.  When it comes to space available travel, the only thing that is certain is uncertainty.

Anyway, while I was at the terminal, I ran into a great couple that we met on the ride over.  Rich and JoAnn Donaghy are from Irvine, CA and space-a veterans.  They didn’t have anything going today so we invited them to join us for a road trip.  They accepted and we were off.  We thought we would head for Taormina to have some lunch but it was early so we decided to go on past Taormina to Patti to visit Jean’s favorite pottery factory/outlet.  It was a nice ride as we shared travel and family stories.  We finally arrived to find the Calica factory, we so enjoyed, had changed quite a bit.  Jean found a piece she liked and we made our way back to Taormina for a little lunch, window shopping and a gelato.

All in all, it was a lovely day in Italy with new friends.

Rich and JoAnn trying to avoid being trampled by tour groups.

Loving Italy

Lunch in Taormina with JoAnn and Rich

Yesterday we hitched a ride on a Navy C-40 to Italy.  We are staying near Catania, Sicily in the shadow of the, still smoking, Mount Aetna.  Last week while we were in Greece, she blew her top and spewed some hot lava rocks on about a dozen BBC photojournalists, injuring a few.  It’s still steaming and smoking quite a bit so our plan to go to the top of the volcano by taking a funicular and then a Jeep with a guide is ill advised. Darn!  We really wanted a close-up view.

This Space-A travel is tough 😀

Instead, we set out on a drive to the center of Sicily to a place called Piazza Armerina to see the Roman Villa Del Casale.  This ancient Villa is the site of the most pristinely preserved mosaics in the world.  By a lot!  We have been privileged to see Roman ruins throughout Europe.  There is NOTHING like this anywhere.  This place is spectacular and worthy of the drive to see it.

Let’s talk about that drive for a minute.  The trusty GPS told me it would be an easy 60 minute drive.  NOT !  I think the nasty 😷 little witch, with the soothing English accent, who apparently resides inside that little electronic device, has it out for me.  To be clear, Jean never has liked her much.  She has deceived us in nearly every country in Western Europe at one time or another and Jean has always claimed that listening to her directions using an OLD FASHIONED map 🗺 is a better option.  OK………I give.  She’s right.  Without her map and sense of direction, we would still be meandering about the Italian countryside.  For those who know me well, you will agree that I am seriously directionally challenged.  At any rate, instead of an hour on the Autostrada (freeway for you Californians) it took two hours on curvy, mountain, secondary roads where I was occasionally able to get out of second and third gear.  It was however, STUNNINGLY BEAUTIFUL and we both loved every minute of it.  Here is a few photos of the drive…

We arrived at Piazza Armerina, parked our Renault Megane and negotiated the souvenir stands to buy tickets and sit down with a Peligrino to catch our breath before entering the site.  Like every other site we have visited on this trip, except for the school kids on field trips, we had the place to ourselves.  If you can travel this time of year, do it.  It’s still a little cool in Northern Europe but for Italy, Greece, and Spain, it’s perfect 👌.  Late April or May is perfect for Paris, London, Frankfurt, Vienna or Prague.  We have taken the grandkids to Spain 🇪🇸 one year and to Italy 🇮🇹 another year.  Because we had to deal with their college vacation schedules we were restricted to June/July and everything becomes a struggle.  The crowds, the heat, the prices………….just go in Spring or Fall if you can.  If you get to take your grandkids………go any damn time you can!

As we toured the ruins, we were slack jawed!  This place is amazing!  I wanted to (and did) take pictures of everything we saw.  As you look at the photos remember these images are mosaics “On the floor! (they look like tapestries that belong on a wall but …”NO” people walked on these floors in the 4th century AD!)  We have seen antiquities all over Western Europe.  Believe me……..this place is something special.

The trip home was much easier.  I took Jean’s map advice and we cruised home on the Autostrada stopping for a lovely meal of tortellini, lasagna and local red wine.

A perfect ending to a wonderful day!

The town of Rethymno

The town of Rethymnos lies about 30 miles or so west of Chania so we decided to take a Sunday drive and check it out.  Before we left the base, I made a point of stopping at the Greek guard shack to ensure we could get back in upon our return.  Let me explain.  The bases overseas are “owned” by the host country.  The American military has security too but you have to get through both layers of security to get on base.  We had obligingly obtained five day passes for each of us personally and a separate pass for our rental car.  When we arrived back to the base yesterday, the Greek military guards said they didn’t have any paperwork on us and they wouldn’t let us in.  The called the Navy security guards who came over and, pretty much, said “Well, sorry.  We can’t let you in either.”  After much negotiation and several calls to the Supervisor, the Navy guards came up with a piece of paper that had our name and information on it and made a copy for the Greek guards who conceded and let us in.  Whew!  Anyway, before we left the base today, I stopped at the Greek guard shack and went in to make sure they were going to let us back in when we returned from our lovely Sunday drive around Crete.  NO PROBLEM, he said!  NO PROBLEM, he repeated.  See here…….I’ve got your names right here on my paper.  So off we go, happy as clams, secure in knowledge we have NO PROBLEM.  Well, I’m sure you’ve guessed by now, we had a problem.  We roll up to the gate, show our ID’s and “entry number”.  The guard goes back into to the shack to check our credentials and he’s gone forever.  The cars are stacking up in line behind us.  Finally he reappears with the news that they don’t know who we are.  ARE YOU KIDDING ME???????  Stay calm Dave, Stay calm.  We got his supervisor involved and they figured out that we had TWO numbers and the Greek number was different than the US number.  Bottom line, they let us back into the base. I swear, we are not going off this base again.  We are going back to Italy where nobody really gives a shit.  Greece is great but the Italians are laid back and cool.  Example:  When we arrived in Italy from the US we asked if there was anyone to stamp our passport.  Passport, Smashport they say.  You don’t need to stamp no stinking passport.  Well that’s OK if your going back to the US from Italy.  Try leaving from Germany!  The German immigration guys are not pleasant.  Ven did you arrive in EU??? They ask?  Vwhy you have no stamp on passport? they ask.  We always manage to talk our way out of it but it’s disconcerting and annoying.  OK………I have ranted enough  about totally irrelevant stuff that the reader has no interest in.  Back to our Sunday drive.

Rethymnos is a pleasant little town in a very convenient location.  It lies about half way between Chania and Iraklion and sits right on the Agean sea.  It has a 17th century Venetian harbor and it’s absolutely charming.  We found a parking lot in center city and meandered through the narrow cobblestone streets window shopping as we made our way down to the harbor.  It’s an idyllic little place and I’m not sure we saw another tourist.  We stopped at a little café that promised original Cretan cuisine, and like all of our other dining experiences here, we were delighted.  I’m telling you, the food here is amazing!  It’s not just kebobs and gyros.  It’s beef or rabbit stewed slowly with peppers and shallots and the freshest herbs available.  It’s salad with greens and herbs picked from the local mountain slopes.  And, after every meal, they bring us something extra at no charge.  Today it was a delicious cake for dessert and the local digestive called Raki.  It’s actually pretty kick-*ss so you have to be careful.  They bring you a little bottle of the stuff and two shot glasses.  I’m pretty sure you are not supposed to finish it.  One does have to drive home after all.

The old Venetion Harbor

Beautiful backdrop

Part of the town as you walk to the waterfront

Philipe, this one’s for you. The local Rock Bar

Our trip back to Crete was an easy 35 minute ride on Agean Airlines.  Unfortunately, I am now short one bottle of Ban roll-on deodorant. TSA flagged my bag and pulled out the offending deodorant and held it up with pride.  Voila!  This contains 103 milliliters of deodorant!  The maximum is 100 milliliters.  We have you dead to rights you fresh smelling terrorist!  Not to be outdone, Jean is now short one small nail file.  We are definitely cagey characters but we couldn’t outsmart Athens airport security.

We arrived back in  Chania, Crete about 8:00pm and taxied to our room at the American Navy Base.  Now for a new look at Crete.  Crete is a magnificent island.  We have been here before but this lovely island deserves another look.  We took one down day to do laundry and catch our breath.  On Thursday, we rented a car and headed for the Palace of Knossos near Iraklion.  It’s about a two hour drive west and definitely worth the time. This place has been inhabited since about 6000bc and the palace (Palatial Period) has been here since about 3000bc.  The Minoan civilization was a sophisticated and modern society.  As you walk among the ruins, you can imagine the people who lived here had the same trials as you and I.  Making a living, raising a family and bitching about the government.  Nothing has really changed all that much.  We just do it faster and post it on Facebook.

View of the Acropolis and Parthenon from the rooftop bar of our hotel

After consult with a local travel agent and a quick look at the white caps on the Agean Sea, we elected to go with a 35 minute plane ride to Athens in lieu of a 9 hour ferry ride on choppy sees.  It was a hard (NOT) decision but it was definitely the way to go.  We arrived in Athens in the evening and taxied to the hotel in the central Plaka district of the city.  Jean found the hotel in the Rick Steves travel guide and it exceeded our expectations.  The photo above is the view from the rooftop bar.  Aside from the location and view, the staff was so friendly and helpful, it really made us feel welcome and want to return.

I had my trepidations about going to Athens.  While I have wanted to see the ancient ruins since childhood,  I am not big lover of the traffic and the cheesy tourist traps that surround the sites.  That said, how can you go to Greece and not go to Athens?  My fears were groundless.  We were here in March so two of the offenders were absent.  Large cruise ship crowds and heat.  While we needed a light jacket for comfort, we couldn’t have asked for better weather.

After a great night’s rest, we bought tickets for one of the Hop-On, Hop-Off bus tours.  The stop was close to our hotel and it stopped at the sites we wanted to see.  It saved a lot of walking.  You get plenty of walking when you get to the sites.  Our first stop was at the new Acropolis Museum.  It is a beautiful facility and very well designed and built specifically to house relics from the Acropolis.  We thought a trip there would give us more insight into what we would see when we got to the Acropolis itself.  While it’s worthy of a visit, I’m not sure it helped that much.  Everything at the Acropolis/Parthenon site is very well documented in both Greek and English.  The Greeks speak English quite well.  A cab driver told us they teach it in school and everyone learns it.

The climb to the top of the Acropolis made us thankful for the sixty something temperatures and the lack of summer crowds.  The view from the top was certainly worth it.  It’s easy to see why this site has been so revered for thousands of years.  It is a natural fortress with a view to eternity.  It was humbling to walk in the steps and kick the same cobbles as the likes of Plato and Aristotle.  Probably one of the greatest blessings is that the Romans, who later occupied the site, recognized the beauty and sophistication of the architecture and the culture.  In fact, for the most part, they just renamed it and took it for their own.  The Roman emperor Hadrian loved the place and expanded and put his own mark on the city.  Hadrian’s Arch  led from the old part of the city to the newly built addition that he created.  It’s inscribed (paraphrasing here), on this side of the arch is the old city, on this side it’s Hadrianville (or whatever)……you get the point. Seeing this world heritage site is truly a travel dream come true for me.  It did not disappoint.  We wandered through the old Plaka district of the city, had a fantastic meal of stuffed tomatoes and gyros before heading back to our room.  We had to go back up to the rooftop bar for a glass of wine and a nighttime view of the beauty we had witnessed earlier.

The next day started with another fantastic breakfast at the hotel.  Since we were checking out, we stowed our backpacks at reception and headed for the  National Archeological Musem.  As museums go, this is among the best in the world. Room after room of the most spectacular artifacts from the ancient world that you can imagine.  My greatest joy was to find the Antikythera Mechanism.  Found in an ancient shipwreck about 1901, it’s a very sophisticated gear driven mechanism that can predict astrological positions and dates.  Built around 200 – 150bc, the technology was lost and wasn’t rediscovered until the 14th century.  Absolutely mind blowing.

Back of Mechanism (circa 200bc)

Antikythera Mechanism

Obviously, I think this thing is amazing

Bronze statue of horse and jockey

On the way back to the hotel to pick up our bags, we enjoyed a quick lunch of traditional Greek stuffed tomatoes and gyros.  It’s off to the airport for our ride back to Crete.