Traveling With Judi . . . .

Yaaaay, we finally made it to Portofino yesterday!! It’s been raining off and on all week (mosquitoes galore!!! 🥴), but we decided to head to Portofino yesterday (rain or shine) to fit that trip in before heading off to our other Italian travel adventures next week!! Almost every day has been cloudy, rainy and/or thunderstorms, but yesterday turned out to be a beautiful, sunny day (even if it was a bit humid)!! ☀️  I have booked a lovely place in Rapallo (near Portofino) for the two weeks after Sheryl leaves before my cruise, and the owner of the apartment was kind enough to hold my two backpacks so I’ll only have one suitcase with wheels to navigate on the trains (and the Vaparetto in Venice)!! So we met the apartment owner’s partner at the train station where he KINDLY took my the bags (yaaaay!!), then wandered around Rapallo a bit to find a gluten free pasta place with AMAZING pesto sauce!! (According to the people I stayed with in Genoa years ago, Liguria is the home o

It’s the perfect sunny Italian day outside with gentle breezes blowing in from the sea (drying our sheets and towels!!), my tummy is full from good coffees, yummy bread and pizza, and life is good!! Don’t be jealous though because this perfect day comes after a challenging (intense but interesting) week, with the best of plans waylaid by “Severe/EXTREME, thunderstorms, wind and rain” (to quote the Italian Meteorologists), delayed trains, and trouble with my “good knee”!! 🥴  Seems like ages ago, but it was only last Monday when we trudged into Lucca since we wanted a “gentle day trip” not far away!! With only light rain predicted, we figured it would be fine... until we got soaked!! I would love to be an outdoorsy type of person, but I’m really NOT (unless it’s sitting outside at a cafe sipping a cappuccino)!! ☕️ The rain threw me off-kilter and all I could think about was getting dry and sitting down, so when Google Maps directed us towards the huge wall that surrounds the old town

Thanks everyone for you kind words and interest in my Big Adventure!! It means so much to me to know that so many of you are “with me” and enjoying themselves from a distance!! ✈️🌎🥰😘  I made it to Italy on Tuesday morning without too many hiccups and am enjoying the slower pace of life here!! We have spent the last few days resting, chatting, settling into our AirBnb and exploring the little beach-town of Viareggio!!  I met up with Sheryl in Pisa and we dragged ourselves to our AirBnb (both exhausted from overnight flights without sleep)!! I never sleep on planes and always seem to arrive at my connection point at JUST the time I’m supposed to be going to sleep!! (And then it’s just painful until I finally get a chance to sleep!! 🥴🤪) At least I enjoyed 4 movies, 2 meals, an extra open seat next to me, and a couple glasses of wine!! 🍷🍷  Unfortunately, the bag that had ALL my toiletries for the next 4-6 months didn’t make it right away, so I pondered what I would do to replac

I made it to Italy yesterday and am still recovering from jet lag (and trying to track down my lost checked bag filled with all my toiletries for the next 4 months!!🥴🤪🎒). Yesterday was pretty much a wash (just surviving to get where I could shower and SLEEP!!), but today I’m at least functional (even though my body and brain now think it’s the middle of the day and feeling much better, but the clock says it’s almost time for bed)!! 🤪😴  Anyway, I thought I would take a few moments of my wide awake time to catch everybody up on the next few months! (For those on Facebook, forgive the duplication of my thoughts!!) I feel like my Journey began a few weeks ago with my visit to Indiana with my sister and her family! It has become kind of a tradition for me to spend time with them either coming or returning from my big trips in the past, and I couldn’t miss out on a chance to be with them! Amidst all the fun and busyness of enjoying Carol’s family (including her 7 grandkids), I’ve a

Happy Easter everyone!! I hope you are all enjoying a nice day and everyone is safe and well?!? I've been thinking a lot the last few days about all the Easter celebrations that had to be cancelled around the world, but especially all those in Spain for whom this week is sacred and celebrated in a BIG WAY with processions and all kinds of religious traditions!! My heart aches for everything my friends in Spain have endured because of the Coronavirus since I left Madrid, but they are pushing on through (just as we are here)! Thinking waaaaay back to February (which feels like a lifetime ago with all that's happened since!!), I've been reflecting on the many, many changes and unexpected upheavals during my trip (but also the many, MANY blessings and delights.... like the time I spent with "My Spanish Family" in Madrid)!! I've been wanting to share about my time with them because it was so special, and thinking about them on this family holiday seems like th

I just wanted to thank everyone for your kind words, thoughts and prayers in response to my mom's passing. Your outpouring of love and kindness was overwhelming, and I could feel your love though your words!! We miss her every day, but my heart feels happy knowing she's where she wanted to be (with my dad)! I finally made it out of our 14-day-post-Spain quarantine.... Woohoo!! Carol and I had a lovely time together and enjoyed each others' company (entertaining ourselves daily with our Spanish telenovela, Italian detective show, crosswords, Carol made cooking videos and read a book to me (kinda fun.... try it!!), and lots of chatting of course)!! Not being able to see people and hug her grandbabies was probably the most stressful aspect (and coordinating a "germ-free bathroom" for her husband who graciously hung out, cooked, ate and slept downstairs for 2 weeks), but overall it wasn't too bad!! As we neared the end of our quarantine, we realized that quara