On the road again!

Retirement... The final frontier.  No-- not really, that was Star Trek ;-). But it does mean Norma and I are finally ready to set out on some traveling adventures we've been looking forward to for years. 

Not that we haven't enjoyed lots of travels over the years, but until now, we've almost always been pretty well tied to our home base in upstate NY through the winter months.  We've occasionally managed a week or two of winter escape when we could get our job calendars at the university to align, but for the most part, we've hunkered down and did our best to get through the long, cold, and dark months here.  Central New York is one of the best places I can think of to live from May to October, but mid winter is not much fun!

So... With both of us now retired, we are footloose and ready to hit the road!  With Niall in Bahrain with Coast Guard, and Jonathan (our exchange student from Costa Rica) on Bangkok, we have a couple of warm dots on the map that we'd like to visit, so that's the starting point... Over the next 10 weeks or so, I'll be posting here to let folks know where we are, and share what we find along the way. We have big plans, and ultimately, if all goes well, we'll complete our second circumnavigation of the globe, heading east and eventually south to Bahrain much warmer climes!  

But, our first stop is... Istanbul!
Though first we need to get there.... I'm writing this in the Syracuse airport after rebooking our entire itinerary for today. Sigh... At least we should actually get to Istanbul at roughly the time we planned for!  We were supposed to be going through Washington and Frankfurt, but weather delays washed that option out , so now we're going through Newark and London. But... Even that looks like we'll have an bump or two along the way.  Now we're on the plane in Syracuse parked on the taxiway with a 90 minute weather delay. C'est la vie.

So... More live updates ;-)  after returning to the gate and letting several passengers off to rebook new plans, we are back on our way to the runway... and actually taking off!  The weather looks horrible in Newark, but we've got a slot to land and we're crossing our fingers we get down safely. Then we have a 2+ hour layover before our flight to London, which should depart on time, given the size of the plane.

Next update... We are safely in the United Club Lounge in Newark, and should be back on schedule:-) 
Cheers everyone!


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