Trip Prep is the Hard Part

 

This trip is a do-over, a mulligan if you're a golfer, of our trip from the spring of 2020.  That was going to be a grand driving tour of most of Western Europe with a start and return in Paris.  We were going to circle south to Spain and then east and north through Eastern France followed by blah, blah, blah.  It doesn't matter because we never got farther than Spain.  The Covid presence didn't surprise us, but the rapid spread and severity did.

We got as far as Seville before being quarantined in our apartment.  Our kids and grandkids who were joining us for 10 days had to cancel and missed a wonderful chance for us all to share this experience before they scattered to colleges and the rest of their lives.  We couldn't go outside as a couple.  Before we knew that, we were stopped walking down the street by the local cops who instructed us to get home now.  Due to language difficulties we didn't know if they meant our apartment or Minneapolis.  After that we of course went to the store together, but walking across the street from each other.  Very sneaky.  Eventually Spain closed all of its lodging options and we had to scramble to drive to Madrid, work through continuously cancelled flights to London and then an overnight in New York before boarding an almost-empty plane to MSP.  With no food or beverage service, a lonely flight attendant said, "what the heck," and brought us a bottle of the first class wine.

Well, that's all old news now.  We know what the last three years have been like.  As the world began to open up with a few stops and starts, we wanted to take one more shot at this trip with modifications.  This time we begin in Barcelona followed by a week in Malaga and another in Seville as our Spanish swing.  It will be trains for us between our Spanish destinations with maybe a some local car rentals if it seems like a good idea.  The Grandkids have indeed scattered, but we will be joined later by Mary's sister Pat and Sister-in-law Lynne.  Lynne has just spent a couple months in Hawaii and this will be an extension of her grand retirement tour.

Instead of going east, this time we will fly to Dublin and begin four weeks of turning over ancestral graves to tingle our DNA.  We will be driving in Ireland as we spend time in Kinsale, Galway, Athlone, Derry, Belfast and Dublin.  We have found that as ancient specimens we need letters from doctors, insurance agents and the Pope in order to rent a car.  The driving on the left on narrow country lanes can be a challenge, but we've done it before so we know to be cautious.  That being said we will probably wreck the car leaving the airport.

After that it is back to the continent with stays in Bruges, the Hague/Leiden (Tulips) and five final days back in Paris.  March 9th to May 4th on the road.  Stay with us if you can or care.  We will try to post frequently but daily might be a bit much.  We intend to have some laid back days that will not be worth a post, but if there is something we want to remember, we'll write it down.

Winter storm warning for our departure time.⛄