I’m headed out in about two hours for a trip that Howard and I have been planning for the past three years. We had hoped to take a big trip last fall, but we had too many other things going on so we had to veer away from our every-two-year travel plan. In the past, I’ve blogged about our month-long trips, spending many hours editing photos, writing text, and then publishing as we made our way through a country. My dear, patient husband would sit nearby as I connected to weak internet signals in little Internet cafes back before WiFi was as plentiful. One of our early trips was to Italy in 2008, where we rented a car and explored for a month. A link to those posts is here: Arrivederci! Then to France in 2010, where we rented a car and drove all over the country. Here’s a link to that trip: Viva La France. I blogged about our cruise in 2012 when we went to Italy, Greece, Croatia, and a bunch of other cool countries. Here’s a link to that one: A Grand Adventure.
We are off this time for another cruise, this time we’re heading south. However, I’ve decided not to blog during the trip (well, I might sneak in a post or two or three at the most, or I might not). I’ll be posting regular updates on Facebook (Dayna Davidson Collins) and occasionally on Instagram (daynalovesart). Unbelievably, several friends have said to post lots of photos, although I hope to show some restraint in what and how many photos I post.
So, where the heck are we going? We are flying to San Diego early tomorrow morning, then on Wednesday afternoon, we’ll board the Holland America cruise ship, Zaandam, and head south. We’ll be making three stops in Mexico, I’ll be spending my birthday in Antigua, Guatemala, then on to Ecuador, a couple of stops in Peru, five stops in Chile, a visit to the Falkland Islands, a stop in Uruguay, and finally ending up in Buenos Aires, Argentina. We’ll truly be at the end of the world and just across from Antarctica as we round Cape Horn and go through Glacier Alley.
This ambitious itinerary means we have to pack for tropical equator weather and then prepare for cold, windy, penguin viewing weather. The cruise is 32 nights, then we’ve rented an apartment in the San Telmo neighborhood of Buenos Aires, where our oldest daughter, Melissa, will be joining us for a week. Melissa speaks fluent Spanish and is a tango dancer, so it should be an adventuresome week and I have a feeling she will keep us out late and way past our bedtime.
Preparing to be gone for six weeks has taken a lot of energy, time, and planning. The house sitters have been arranged……
… my hair has been colored . . . .
. . . . the plants have been corralled . . .
. . . . hiking boots have been packed . . . .
. . . . winter hats purchased . . . .
. . . . a variety of reading material tucked into our luggage . . . .
. . . and, of course, art supplies and pre-painted and prepared art journal pages lovingly placed in my backpack.
