Planes, Trains and Orthotics: A Middle-Age Woman's Guide to Travel

 I don’t know if I have ever mentioned this, but unless my grandparents’ boats from Naples and Sicily cruised by Ireland on their way to America, I personally have no ancestral connection with the island. Nor do United or Aer Lingus Airlines offer me deep discounts on flights…ever.  I write this because it would appear that I must have some tie to the country because I seem to visit—a lot.  It is true that my husband is of Irish descent, but he does not strongly embrace his heritage and in fact, I usually have to remind him where his mother’s “people” are from. (FYI, Galway, Bob.) Also, my sister’s husband’s family has owned a house on the West Coast for decades and I have visited it many time with my sister—but still, that connection is not my own.  The fact is, I just love everything about this country…except when it rains a lot.  Because I have been lucky enough to visit Ireland so many times, I am convinced that I am going to be an Irish travel guide in my n...

Two weeks after our trip to Africa, we again pulled out our luggage—thankfully not those minuscule suitcases we were required to use while flying in those God-forsaken puddle jumper airplanes—and headed to our nephew’s wedding in Seattle, Washington.  While we were excited to spend time in Seattle, visiting with family and enjoying all the wedding festivities, we decided that since we were already on the West Coast and Bob had an inordinate amount of free Amtrak miles, we would extend our trip and head north to Vancouver, British Columbia, a city we have never visited. We arrived in Seattle a few days early and between various wedding festivities and exploring the city, we covered a lot of ground. Between walking tours, a food tour with our kids and a ferry ride over to visit Bainbridge Island, we were averaging between 18,000 and 22,000 steps per day. And boy, did we feel it. Between Bob’s legs and my never-ending knee and feet issues, there was not enough Ibuprofen in the state, ...

Today is our last day on safari in Botswana and tomorrow we will take four flights (including one puddle jumper) to return to the United States about 24 hours later. Before and during this trip, so many people have said that a trip to Africa is a trip of a lifetime and after 16 days of traveling, that is an understatement.   We have all learned so much and I thought I would just highlight some of the things we learned while visiting this magical part of the world: -Beyond black and white stripes, zebras also have light brown stripes towards the backs of their bodies called, “shadow stripes.”  They also have a lot of gas; -Crocodiles can survive one year without eating; -Elephants can live between 80 and 100 years old and use their ears to cool off their bodies; -New palm trees can grow from the dung of elephants who eat the fruit from those trees; -The dung from all herbivores (elephants, buffalo, giraffes, etc.) contain no bacteria and is often used for medicinal purposes for...

 We spent the last two days in the Chobe National Park in Botswana marveling at the wildlife from both jeeps and boats.  The boat ride was far easier on our aging bodies compared to the bumpy and/or non-existent roads in the park.  The guides affectionately call these often harrowing rides, “African massages.”  After nearly two weeks of such travel, I think that a more accurate description is, “Future Fodder for Chiropractors.” None of our necks from all the bumping, will ever be the same.  We spent one of the days in Zimbabwe, where we were anxious to see Victoria Falls, the tallest waterfall in the world and to visit a traditional African village, both being amazing and one of the highlights of our trip.  Getting into Zimbabwe however, proved to be quite a challenge.  After yet another spine and neck workout thanks to both the jeep and the “roads,” we arrived at what can only be described as the middle of nowhere, except for a couple of make-shift bu...

 We are currently sitting in yet another small, non-JFK-like airport waiting to fly to and spend one night in Johannesburg before a flight tomorrow to Botswana. We had so many amazing adventures at the Phinda Game Reserve which included seeing hippos, cheetahs, leopards, male and female lions, zebras, giraffes, wart hogs, just to name a few. We saw rhinoceroses-both black and white—which of course required us to ask about the difference, as they both looked the same to all of us.  Besides, seeing a “tower” of giraffes standing together, the most exciting thing we saw was a tense-filled 30 minutes watching a pride of female lions trying to take on a herd of buffalo…unsuccessfully. It was like watching a safari episode on the National Geographic channel. The trip so far has reminded me that regardless of age and success, men can immediately divert back to being children. The four of us spent two days in an open-air jeep with a couple from Johannesburg.  They had previously ...

 We spent three days in the Bush outside of Kruger National Park and saw everything we hoped to see.  We all got used to riding the bumpy roads in a jeep with no top but I was still anxious when any animal—like a leopard or a lion— would walk directly next to our vehicle.  We were assured that as long as we remained seated, the animals would not feel threatened and we would be safe.  That’s all good in theory, but when you have a leopard walking right towards where you’re seated, it’s hard not to flinch.  Needless to say, I did plenty of flinching in those three days.  Last night we had to pack and prepare for a two hour van ride to another airport (also not like JFK) to take a small plane to Phinda Mountain Lodge in the southern portion of South Africa.  As we packed, I soon learned that my views and Bob’s views on packing while in the middle of a safari were completely different. Bob’s were far more simplistic: we have clean clothes and we have dirty...