Bonjour from Belgium 🇧🇪! After a 22 hour journey, this Olympics adventure has begun. It’s early Sunday morning and I’m currently on a bus from Brussels to Spa-Francorchamps for the F1 Belgian Grand Prix – today’s event. I left home Friday afternoon just as the Olympics opening ceremonies were getting underway. After a train ride…

After an easy trip from Brussels this morning, I’ve made it to my first event, and it was a good one. Was lucky to attend the Men’s Gymnastics Finals at Bercy Arena this afternoon. The USA team took their first medal (a Bronze) since 2008. Japan won gold and China took silver in an exciting…

When I was checking the weather forecast for Paris about a week ago, I noticed the temperature today was going to be exceptionally hot. Miami hot. Singapore hot. It certainly was. Despite the fact that I live in South Florida, I’ve never adjusted to the heat. Nevertheless, it was off to Roland Garros for tennis…

Bonsoir from Paris! Today brought another visit to Roland Garros for Olympic tennis, this time in the main stadium, Court Philippe Chatrier. Lucked out with a seat in the front row of the upper deck. I was able to see Novak Djokovic on his quest for his first Olympic medal as he dispatched Dominik Koepfer…

When I booked this Olympic adventure, I looked for combinations of events which made sense geographically. For August 1, I was able to find a combination of 4 events which I knew would be a stretch, but was definitely possible. The day started with Archery in a picturesque location – Les Invalides. The historic French…

For my penultimate day of Olympic events, I started with one I’d been looking forward to, Track and Field at Stade de France (yes, it’s called Athletics, but I’ll always know it by the name of the arcade game I used to play in the mid 80s 😁). I’ve watched many football and rugby matches…

Bonjour from a TGV train 🚅 near the Franco-Swiss border! Catching up with an account of my last day and night of Paris 2024 as I head towards the next phase of this adventure, Lausanne, Switzerland. Two big events were on tap for Saturday, my final day of events at Paris 2024: the US women’s…

After an action-packed week in Paris at the Olympics, a 4-hour TGV train ride brought me to Lausanne, Switzerland 🇨🇭 on Sunday. Having been to Zurich in 2019 and the Lauterbrunnen Valley last year, the Lake Geneva area is a new area to explore. Lausanne is the headquarters of the International Olympic Committee, so a…

Good morning from steamy Athens! I’d been here in 2021 for a cruise stop, but have always wanted to come back and explore it in more depth. I’ve had the opportunity to do that over the last couple days. On Thursday morning, I started by visiting the ancient Agora. This was the central marketplace and…

The cruise portion of the adventure started yesterday with a longer than expected two-mile walk from the Piraeus Metro to the cruise terminal where the Norwegian Getaway was docked. Not fun with a 40lb bag on my back lol Once onboard it was nice to fully unpack my bag for the first time since Paris.…

After the Olympics, one of the destinations I’ve been most looking forward to was Istanbul. My first visit to Türkiye 🇹🇷, I was excited to experience the crossroads of Europe and Asia.  With two days (a rare overnight on a cruise), I decided to try it on my own for Tuesday, day one. I used…

Greetings from the port city of Kusadasi on Turkey’s west coast!  After visiting the Far East of Asia for the first time last September, I’m visiting the continent’s far Western end this year.  Kusadasi is best known as the entry point for the ancient city of Ephesus, and that’s where I visited today. Taking a…

On this three-and-a-half week journey, there were portions which were meticulously planned (Belgium Grand Prix, Paris) and locations which were researched (French Switzerland, Athens). Some weren’t planned at all, and one of those was the Greek island of Rhodes.  Rhodes sits less than 20 miles off the coast of southwestern Turkey and has been a…

I’d been to Santorini once before, on my 2021 cruise. It’s definitely a place worth seeing once, but once you’ve seen it…you’ve seen it. Still, it’s the last port on this itinerary, so I boarded a tender to go ashore at Fira.  Santorini sits in a stunning setting. Fira is perched on the top of…

All good adventures must come to an end, and this one is almost done. I packed my bags and disembarked from the Norwegian Getaway this morning.  It was nice to be back with Norwegian after my disappointing experience with MSC back in December. I enjoy Norwegian’s specialty restaurants, the included beverage package and their ship…

One of my favorite post-travel traditions is to create videos of my trips. It’s a great way to go through the hundreds (sometimes thousands) of pictures and video clips I bring back on my phone as well as a fun way to get the creativity juices flowing. I enjoy choosing the background music – sometimes…