Mid trip observations and reflections

These are random thoughts.  Both of us agree that the trip has been wonderful so far.

Variety is key for us.  We enjoy staying with friends, family, at B&B's, at two-star funky hotels, budget chains and at little apartments.  It all adds to the joy.  We have also done a variety of things: research, theater, family outings, picnics, museums, castles, parks, walks, churches, villages, towns, cities, planes, trains, busses and cars.

We were so scheduled in the fall and winter that we have felt our stress levels diminish this trip.  We do not find ourselves multi tasking which is great. It does make us think that the start of a long trip should begin at a slower pace than this one did, with maybe a week's stay some where with little on the agenda.

We have also been very healthy.  Maybe it is because we have walked a lot, ate well and had little stress.

We save money by limiting eating out and often eat supermarket food.  Mark misses cooking when we travel, especially as we love local markets, so, when we do have kitchens, he really loves to cook.
In many ways we spend a lot less than we do at home.

Limiting our luggage to just carry on works for us.  We don't have a lot to lug, for one. And, we think we packed well.  Neither of us have been out, yet, in shorts or been in our bathing suits, but otherwise, we have worn every thing.  We don't have room to buy many souvenirs, both good and bad.

Slowing our pace is great.  We take days to read, something we did not used to do.  We love the back roads, but know we sometimes have to succumb to the motorways because of time.  The GPS has been well worth it, but "she" has made mistakes and we check our maps.  We wonder how we did it years ago when the kids were little, but we must have frequently been lost!

We like being in touch with friends and family through email, this blog, Facebook and Viber.