Random thoughts from the sea
Days 73-75, 2025 European Odyssey Tuesday to Thursday, Sept. 9-11, 2025; Portland, England, and Bilbao, Spain. My lack of port planning is starting to catch up with me. I spent time in the spring planning the Northern Europe part of this odyssey, but figured I would plan the second half
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Days 70-71, 2025 European Odyssey Saturday and Sunday, Sept. 6-7, 2025; Dover, England, and Amsterdam, Netherlands. Jo: “This is the best meal I’ve ever had!” Waitress: “In Amsterdam?” Jo: “I think this whole year!” Waitress: “Wow!” Little did she know that this year I have eaten in foodie cities from Lima
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Days 65-67, 2025 European Odyssey Tuesday-Thursday, Sept. 2-4, 2025; Glasgow, Scotland; Douglas, Isle of Man; and Cobh, Ireland. Looking back, I wish I had spent a semester or year studying abroad. The University of Glasgow would be on the short list of places I would have enjoyed. I briefly wondered
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Day 64, 2025 European Odyssey Sunday, Aug. 31, 2025; Belfast, Northern Ireland. There’s nothing I like better than doing just enough research to scratch the surface and write approximately 700 words about a port. I’ll connect my visit with an earlier one – perhaps to the same port, perhaps to
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Days 60-62, 2025 European Odyssey Wednesday-Friday, Aug. 27-29, 2025; Lerwick, Kirkwall and Stornoway, Scotland. Sometimes you just need to get out of town, and that’s what I decided to do at the last minute in Kirkwall, the main town in Scotland’s Orkney Islands. I love wandering Kirkwall’s streets and poking
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Day 59, 2025 European Odyssey Tuesday Aug. 26, 2025; Edinburgh, Scotland. Last time I was in Edinburgh, a flood of people swept me up, surging downhill toward a sea of buses. My challenge was to find the right one to take me from the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo to the
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Day 57, 2025 European Odyssey Sunday Aug. 24, 2025; Rotterdam. Today I was feeling a bit nostalgic about leaving Rotterdam and the Nieuwe Maas river for the final time this summer. In two weeks, we will return instead to Amsterdam, and from there head south around the Iberian Peninsula to
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Days 50-51, 2025 European Odyssey Sunday and Monday, Aug. 17-18, 2025; Reykjavik and Heimaey, Iceland. Historic events mark a society, putting a stake in the ground that forever marks “before” and “after.” People remember where they were. History takes a turn. In my lifetime, I can think of three such
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Days 47-49, 2025 European Odyssey Thursday to Saturday, Aug. 14-16, 2025; Djúpivogur, Akureyri and Ísafjörður, Iceland. There may be a fine line between comfort and falling into a rut. I might have crossed it. I find comfort in the familiarity of places I’ve visited before. There’s no tinge of anxiety
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Day 45, 2025 European Odyssey Tuesday, Aug. 12, 2025; Ålesund, Norway. Forty-two days ago, I boarded The Golden Train for an afternoon ride on what Lonely Planet called Europe’s most scenic rail journey. We saw waterfalls and farms as we climbed the mountain valley, but had no glimpses of the
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