Our plans, decisions, and adventures
Mostly, we are relaxing here in Deal. We walk to the beach frequently, take Coco for a swim, and occasionally stop for a coffee or drink at a seaside cafe. The larger grocery stores and shops of High Street are close to the beach, so a seaside walk also gives us a chance to restock in small doses since we don’t have a car to haul bags back home. Continue reading “Deal: Castles, cathedrals and sandwiches”
Having enjoyed the warmth and ocean of coastal Cyprus so much, we were a bit apprehensive about heading back to the UK in April. Pre-booked flights and train trips, and a committed house sit (not to mention the lack of accommodation elsewhere), won out and we set off for our next adventure. Continue reading “Deal: Sea swap”
I thought I had finished talking about Limassol and Cyprus, but we created enough time in a few workdays by rescheduling our dog walks to Ken-only afternoons to get up to a few more interesting things in our last days there. Continue reading “Limassol: Last words (again)”
While planning what to do after our house sit in Kalkan, Turkey, we found a 2-week house sit in Cyprus. An island just south of Turkey, Cyprus appeared to be a really convenient next stop as it is an island nation just south of Turkey. As we always do before applying for a sit, we did a quick transport check and found that we could fly from an airport near Kalkan to an airport on Cyprus quite cheaply and quickly.
Istanbul. A city split over two continents (Asia and Europe). A city with a countable population that is roughly half that of the entire country of Canada. The Turks speak of the country’s uncountable population (refugees and their growing families, primarily) as, well, uncountable–nobody knows how many more this adds to the population number–and Istanbul is a significant landing pad for many residents in that category. Continue reading “Turkey: Istanbul”
We had 2 weeks free after our house sit in Turkey before we needed to be in Istanbul for a flight out of the country. Rather than spend a few days at several spots along the 1,000km route, we planned a (hopefully) quiet week in one coastal town followed by a (likely) crazy week in Istanbul. Continue reading “Turkey: Bodrum & Ephesus”
The flight plan was Bologna to Istanbul with three hours to spare before our connecting flight to the Dalaman airport in Turkey’s southwest. Thanks to the remnants of The Beast from the East causing icy-rain conditions on the morning of our departure from Bologna, and the lack of available de-icing fluid at the airport, our departure was about 2 1/2 hours late and, needless to say, we missed our connection.
OK, it wasn’t all sleet, but there certainly was snow. And icy rain. Bologna was our home during the second half of the Beast from the East, the unusually harsh winter in the UK and Europe at the end of February and first few days of March. We were flying to our next destination from Bologna, and we had a few days free between our Naples house sit and that flight. Hanging out for a few days in Bologna seemed a good option. Continue reading “Bologna: Short and sleet”
We’ve been incredibly lucky with weather since September. We had some rain in England, but not enough to keep us from getting out and seeing everything we wanted to. We had cold and snow in Switzerland in December, but no surprise there (though I did whine about the cold in one post). We had some rain and even a little dusting of snow in Umbria, but we managed to get to all the places we really wanted to go, and we were so warm and cozy in our home in the beautiful Umbrian hillside that we really didn’t mind a bit. Continue reading “Naples and the Amalfi Coast”
While housesitting in Canalicchio, we took it easy, in some respects. We took car trips less frequently than we have in other areas, and I wrote no blog posts after the first impressions one in our first week. I worked quite a bit on Eastern Time covering for a vacation, which meant I didn’t shut down until about 10:00 pm (the not-taking-it-easy part). Since my work is computer-based, the last thing I feel like doing in my off times on these days is to sit in front of a computer to write and process photos.
From Rome, we took a train to Terni in the Umbria region of Italy where we are house- and pet-sitting for about 3 weeks. We were picked up by our homeowners, Michael and Sophie, who greeted us warmly and whisked us away to Canalicchio, a tiny hilltop village smack dab in the center of the country.
Just left: Limassol, Cyprus
Now: Deal, Kent, UK
Up next: Waterbeach, Cambridgeshire, UK
