A 74-Year-Old Woman with a Yen to See the World, a Supportive Husband, and a Couple of Backpacks…

All my life, I’ve loved to travel. My dream has been to visit all the countries that interest me on every continent. Until July 2021, however, I’d never left North America.

In Spring of 2021, we could see the world beginning to reopen. Dempsey said, “This year is yours. It’s time to make your travel dream come true.” And so we did!

We’re spending fifteen weeks exploring the world, and you’re invited along.

My Blog

Lyon to Barcelona

by Jillian Coleman Wheeler | Oct 2, 2021 | Spain | 0 Comments

From Geneva we continued on to Lyon, France, where we had half an hour to catch our connecting train to Spain. At the Lyon station we rushed to find the track for our next train, which took longer than we had hoped. Then, as we were headed down the hall to the escalator, we were stopped by French customs officers. We’d forgotten that France is stricter than many other European countries, so that took ten minutes. As soon as they let us go, we rushed to the train, which was still standing but had just closed its doors. We’d missed the train.

Okay, we said. Let’s find out what time the next train leaves and we’ll have lunch and come back. Alas, there are three departures daily from Lyon to Barcelona, and they’re all in the first half of the day. We’d missed the last train.

Fortunately, we found a Best Western hotel with an available room. We schlepped our way over there and while Dempsey went out for take-away food, I slept. I was still on meds for the bronchitis, and though I was excited about everything we were seeing, my body was insisting on rest.

The next day we enjoyed the hotel breakfast, which included eggs and sausages. In Italy, breakfast consists of cold cuts, slices of cheese, cereal, yogurt, fruit and pastries.

Then we caught the first train out. The route followed the Mediterranean coast and took us through a number of small towns. We were happy to reach Barcelona at dusk. There’s an excellent hotel right above the train station with a quirky space travel theme, and our reservation ensured we didn’t have to go far to be able to call it a night.

Best Western Lyon la Part-Dieu

Old buildings and new. Lyon is 2,000 years old, but this part of the city is abuzz with new construction and ultra-modern buildings.

Pretty tree-lined streets.

This structure includes an escalator to an elevated park.

The southwestern coast of France.

The countryside is flat there.

Checking our progress during a long day on the train.

Sants Station in Barcelona.

A brief walk out the back door of the station, a right turn into another door and a short elevator ride to our hotel.

Barcelo Sants Hotel. On the big screen on the left footage from inside an American spacecraft plays on a loop.

Standing in line to claim our room.

Another new friend for Dempsey.

And one more.

A Week in Devon

by Jillian Coleman Wheeler | Jul 22, 2021 | England | 0 Comments

We knew traveling abroad would be more complicated than it might have been another year, so we agreed we’d stay flexible. The complications began immediately. We had planned to spend the second two weeks of July in the U.K., but just a few weeks before we arrived, the...

Planes, Trains, and Automobiles…

by Jillian Coleman Wheeler | Jul 15, 2021 | England | 0 Comments

And we’re off!The first train ride on our 90-day Senior Global Eurail Pass. Each country has its own railroad (or several) and Eurail is the umbrella entity. We’ll be learning as we go.

Road Ready

by Jillian Coleman Wheeler | Jul 14, 2021 | USA | 0 Comments

Luggage: Since we so often pack more than we need, and we wanted this trip to be simple and easy, we invested in a couple of backpacks. We went to REI, the outdoor store, and we were measured for the packs to be sure they would be comfortable for us to carry. Our son,...