
The Mediterranean was warm, the Berlin transportation system was amazing. It was comforting to see so many women with curly hair in Israel.
I learned that you need a lot of time between planes when you travel internationally because you have to go through customs. An hour won’t cut it, especially if your plane is late coming in.
You need to start with a day pack that is light without anything in it. Forget style. You’ve got to schlep it and it needs a side pocket for a water bottle which is also light, pre-water.
Maybe you don’t want your DSLR along even and you should just take the so-so point&shoot. But I don’t know that yet.
And you should have had the sandals stretched before you left. Did you think you could ignore your bunions long enough to break in the leather before traipsing all over the uneven steps and cobblestones of the Old City?
Spring for a decent hiking-type hat and those travel pants that turn into cropped pants and the underwear that dries overnight. Stop making do.
And never, never check a bag again. When you come back to the States and have to change planes, you’ve got to go through customs AFTER YOU GET YOUR LUGGAGE. And again, don’t listen to your spouse when he/she says an hour between planes is enough. You can only run so fast through an airport, you’re a middle aged woman for god’s sake, not a sprinter.
But why the lily at the top left side, you ask. And after posting every day in September, you couldn’t drag yourself to the laptop before three weeks into November?
Well, I buried the lede. And my mom.
So we come back at 1am and 36 hours later she goes into the hospital. She was old, not well and her mind was going. At 88 she had lived a full life and got to do what she wanted to do – finish her BA in art, get a masters in 3D art and spend all day and night making art, in every medium, as she always said.
I’ve downloaded my pictures, about 2,000, which I will review when I get the emotional energy. I’ve been writing about travel, thinking about where to go next and websurfing for books to read about long distance walking and trails.
But the idea of photoshopping anything and digesting my trip, well the me that left on October 4th is not the same me who’s typing this post. When I catch up to myself, I’ll get back to my blogging again.