Cactus Wanderer

Cactus Wanderer...at home        Imagine my surprise on Tuesday morning, six hours from our departure for the airport, when the PA came into our room at Fast Med and said, Susan you are Covid positive.   I had no symptoms and no known contacts.     The test was repeated and positive it remained.  So home we went to view the preparations of a DDay: luggage ready, fountain cleaned and drained, refrigerator cleaned and emptied, heavy plants drug into  sprinkler range, everything ready to go...except us.     To say we are disappointed is an understatement.  We were both looking forward to the change of scene and routine.  But it was not to be.     I did learn some good lessons from the experience, though.  Traveling with a carry on makes unpacking a snap when the last thing a dejected traveler wants to see is trip-ready luggage lined up by the door.      Cleaning out my purse yielded a tiny s...

Travel Muscles....   Our Route     Well, ours are certainly flabby.  Not since I visited Ireland for St. Paddy's day in 2019 have I been out of the county.  Paul has been even more landlocked.  His last trip was Africa in 2017.     Covid was hard on everyone, to be sure.  Throw in a few health issues and in an instant three years have evaporated, taking with it more sand from our hourglass.     We had long planned this cruise to see St. Petersburg and the Baltic States and each year we kicked the can down the road for another year.  Now we are scheduled to depart next week on a Regent luxury liner in a concierge cabin with only 450 passengers.  Sounds like heaven!  Then why am I so glum?     I have  always had a zest for travel fueled, in part, because I didn't begin traveling until mid-life.  For me, it is not just the trip but the process.  I love prepping with history, historical fiction an...