Tag: travel
Words in Malaga
SOME MARRIAGES LAST TOO LONG, and so do some honeymoons. Mine had already lasted seven months, and we were again in the middle of an argument that left me sitting alone watching the road go by. Tom drove, the back of his head all I could see from the rear seat of the van. Outside…
India Times Three: 4
2024 continues The next morning, Erin and I flew south to Madurai. Our new driver, Mooney, was an incredibly handsome young man clad in an immaculate white shirt and clean, pressed slacks. The seats in his SUV were encased in spotless white covers, and between the passenger seats he had placed a basket of snack-size…
India Times Three: 3
2001 Continues Una and I had a decision to make. A longer, more comfortable trip versus a faster trip in an Indian second-class train car. I was inclined to experience traveling like a local. Van travel and Girl Scout backpacking taught me I didn’t always need luxury to enjoy a journey. Una was older, but…
India Times Three: 2
2001 Continues By the third afternoon, our tour group arrived in Agra. My second visit. Una’s first. Our guide, Prakash, warned us we would start before dawn the next morning. Ten hours later, the Elderhostel group stood in awe as the shrouded form of the Taj Mahal floated in and out of gray mist. When…
The Help of Strangers
Mexico, September 1971 TOM AND I WERE ONLY a few weeks into our honeymoon road trip. It was late afternoon on our second day in Mexico, and we were sweaty and tired from the long, hot drive across the Sonora Desert. The city of San Luis Potosí slumbered under the siesta-time September sun. Though it…
Chinese Morning
Beijing, 2002 TOM BURST INTO THE HOTEL ROOM. “I’ve found the market!” he said. “It’s just around the corner.” His enthusiasm pulled me out of my jet-lagged stupor more effectively than the two cups of tea I had just drunk. We had arrived in Beijing the afternoon before. After eating a Chinese meal in a…
A Man In Love With His Wife.
Sicily, near Palermo. 1972 We met Albert and Rosalia fifty years ago, and our few minutes of friendship shine in my memory. Tom and I were on the honeymoon of a lifetime, living in a Volkswagen van and traveling from one continent to another, from one country to another. Twenty-four hours before, we had endured…
Finally Rajasthan (Part 3 of Return to India)
After five days in Northern India seeing the iconic sites of the classic Mogul emperors, we headed west. Finally, I would see Rajasthan. The largest state in India, it hugs the Pakistani border and much of it consists of the inhospitable Thar Desert. Once the home of the Rajput maharajas, Rajasthan literally means “the land…
Elderhostel and Agra Revisited (Part 2 of Return to India)
After 28 years, I was again in India. This time, rather than sharing a romantic adventure with my new husband, I was on an Elderhostel tour with my older sister, Una. I had reached the ripe age of 55, which at that time was the age the travel group considered elder-enough. Of course, younger travel…
A Reading Challenge for Travel Lovers
I have been aware of book-reading challenges for some time but I never thought I would join one. My own bookshelves offer enough of a challenge. I am a book buying addict and my shelves overflow with books waiting to be read. I love used book stores, Friends of the Library shops, and most of…