After 70+ days of travel, we are back at the ElderBase, have decommissioned the Eldership and have been returned to our daily lives in Albuquerque. We got back on Wednesday and will be hitting things hard starting Monday. As per usual with our travels, I have put together a compendium of thoughts and observations.
Overall sense of satisfaction
· After years of wondering if our travel life was going to be finished, this had me feel like we were back on our game
· There were a number of challenges, especially when we were in Türkiye that required significant physical and mental effort all of which were met
· Wife, of course, has been working like crazy to build back from her various setbacks.
· In my case, it has only been recently that I took up the gym work Wife recommended and got on to a disciplined program. The effect was obvious (discussed below)
Renewed Understanding of How Important Travel is to Our Overall Wellbeing
· I say something like this I believe every time we travel but still feel it is important to restate because I think it offers information that could be of value to others as they enter into the aging part of their life.
· The way we travel has had an unquestioned positive effect on our overall well-being
· It is associated with putting ourselves into environments where we are challenged.
· Important that I don’t overstate ‘challenge.
· We’re not doing unaided traverses over oceans, deserts, or mountains.
· But we are in steady state of having to figure things out for our daily life. Navigation both walking and driving is a big part. Managing each day, not having a daily rhythm and having to decide what to do and when to do things all engage our mental and physical states.
· I always notice upon returning home how much more alert and observant I am.
Which Leads to a Sense of Accomplishment (and No Doubt Hubris)
· When Wife and I have one of our ‘days’ where the challenge is a bit more (like our day at Sydra Ancient City) or dealing with a child throwing up in the car, or changing our plans in Brussels because of the cold and damp, there is a sense of reward, of ‘hey we can still do this.’
· When we go to someplace totally new like our time in Alanya and start by feeling very disoriented and even a bit fearful, but end up feeling we know this place, and we are comfortable, there is a sense of reward, of ‘hey we can still do this.’
· But as I say that, I remember it wasn’t but a year and a half ago that the various ailments we both were dealing with was having us question whether travel would still be an option. So I take the good feeling with a very large grain of salt
This Leads to a Further Sense that We Are Still Learning and Still Growing
· We are learning in ways large and small.
· Driving in our local area of Spain used to be very challenging because in highway driving there are virtually NO straight roads. Now I hardly notice them.
· Parking in European underground garages is another. I know others who travel and have had the crazy experiences of trying to navigate incredibly tight turns and getting into incredibly tight spaces. Very slowly as we have been doing more and more of this, it has become easier and less stressful.
· As keep going back to El Campello, we find more and more places to eat. We have Lami, of course, but the paella, arroz, seafood, grill place in Pinoso has now become one we want to go back to. 1A and #1 found a couple of places that are now on our list. And I’ve researched others that are better representatives of Spanish food than those on the oceanfront strip. It is nice to have more things to explore and experience.
10 Weeks Is Too Long
· This was the longest trip we have ever taken.
· Not being in one’s own bed, toilet, shower, etc. starts to wear.
· No matter how nice the place you go to, it is not exactly ‘yours’ in terms of feel and a host of little things one notices with day-to-day life.
Photography Has Become a Great Thing
· The photographic teaching we had in Alanya turned out to have re-energized my interest in photography.
· Over our last couple of trips, I had felt I was getting very stale.
· The guy who taught us, while not perfect, gave me some great advice, tools, pushed me into finally moving to Lightroom (much to Wife’s satisfaction as she has been trying to get me to do this for years).
· The thing I feel is that we can go almost anywhere, even a boring place with nothing of note and get into a photographic mode and make the time enjoyable.
· That, in turn, makes it fun to be almost anywhere.
· We were able to make places where we were primarily transiting (Warsaw, Madrid, Brussels) destinations by focusing on photography.
Jet Lag Management
· Over the years we’ve developed many ways to try and manage jet lag, particularly when we return home. Sometimes they work and sometimes they don’t. We stopped in D.C. and overnighted there before returning to Albuquerque. It worked this time in large part because the hotel we used had a great bed and superior bedding so both of us slept well. Note to self – pay up for a quality place on these kinds of layovers.
A Place-by-Place Analysis
· Warsaw
It was interesting for a couple of days. Maybe if we drove throughout the country, we’d have a different impression. We were not excited by Polish cuisine. Being a fan of Netherlands herring, I was looking forward to more of the same. But in Poland they like it pickled with a sweet flavor.
· Malmö – Of course it was great being with the family, but besides that as we had a car and did a number of day trips, we found the area appealing. I’ve had the thought if we could find a place to stay on the Helsingborg or Malmö waterfront, it would nice to do a longer stay. Unfortunately, the property laws are such that such properties are not readily available. Nonetheless, I’m looking forward to more exploration of Southern Sweden when we visit the 3’s in the future. I’m also sad to say that Swedish herring is like Polish herring. Miss Amsterdam.
· Alanya – Glad we went. Won’t come back. I’ve written about how it took a while to get comfortable and make the city ‘our own’. There is a lot about Turkish daily life, cuisine, and culture that I enjoy. But, there is not much to see or do in and around Alanya that we haven’t already done. And we were kind of bummed that it was fairly expensive. Whether this was because it is a vacation center or not, I’m not sure. I am sure we will check out another part of Türkiye in the future.
· Madrid - I was surprised by how much I enjoyed Madrid. We stayed in a part of town that is known as its own particular neighborhood. It kind felt like a small city within the city. The center is easy to get around by foot and by Uber. There was loads to photograph.
· El Campello – What can I say? This has become a home away from home. We feel very fortunate to have the relationship that is allowing us to return to the apartment. It’s not perfect. The furniture is getting old. The beds are far from perfect. But there is a magic of the view, the ability to hear the ocean all the time, the ease of parking, being in a town large enough to have all the services one could need and most within walking distance. And El Campello itself is so mellow. Going back to Calp reminded me of just how much more touristy the rest of the Costa Blanco is. No, El Campello, and our apartment there, is this little island that just resonates with us.
· Brussels – We weren’t there very long and the weather totally did not cooperate. But I could see in nicer weather an even better place for photography. And from a foodie perspective, there are a lot of things there we did not get to try or that we tried and I would want to have again. I could see us coming again and spending a few more days here.
