Rental cars over the years

The freedom of the open road. Cool wind in your hair, warm sunshine on your face… ahhh…. ptui ptui! More likely than not you might get lots of sand, dirt and bugs in your face. And if you’re not careful, in the eye too!

That said, driving is fun. We are sure the many folks who do road trips will agree with us. And that’s why we thought it fun to share a little slide show of the many rentals we picked up over the years.

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Wow. From luxury models to basic sedans, we’ve had the privilege of ‘test driving’ these vehicles over several days or weeks. Most recently we rented while on a week’s drive around the western side of Sicily. Oh such freedom to get around without constraint… oh well the only being finding parking.

Don’t you love road trips?

Spa treatments that give you a high?

About 18 months ago we wrote about getting a high from cuisine (here). In that article we shared how opioid use in cuisines are being legalized in some parts of the world. Well, it seems that we are progressing beyond desserts and even into the world of spa treatment.

On a related subject of being ‘high’, some folks find other forms to achieve it.

But today we are not referring to the use of substances which we abhor, but to achieve wellness through natural means. Such as soaking in nutrient rich warm waters and absorbing the goodness that nature has bestowed upon us. Good eh? You will know that good health is first and foremost before anything else. No health surely leads to a path of ill wealth etc.

Enjoy Spa? Well we do. As often as we can when we are in Japan we will frequent these public baths where the rich waters from the depths of the earth can be enjoyed. Do you get a high from spa treatments?

 

How much do you carry on journeys?

Everytime we make a journey, a lot of work has to be done. Evaluating and selecting clothing that we’d take with us. Thinking about the accessories and toiletries that should also be brought along…

We were inspired to write about this after reading ths post. Now you might have read of our tirade on the payment for checked luggage in the past especially on journeys across the US. And we have also shared how you can try to sneak up more as carry-on luggage here.

Perhaps we are biased, but our own observations were for a gradual decline in the amount of luggage “allowance” a passenger gets on flights over the past 20 years. Only in recent years have we witnessed a slight turnaround in our national carrier. Not that we are advertising for them, some of their peers are also doing the same. It might be that elsewhere in the world the trend remains in motion to have passengers granted less kilos…

But today we revert to the considerations in the first paragraph.

That is – to the question we posed in the title of this post. How much luggage does one carry when embarking on a journey. Sure, for shorter journeys we’d expect a lot less. But are there basic things that you will find ‘compulsory’ to bring along regardless of the length of the trip?

Transforming bad to good memories

We came across an article a couple of months back. This one’s a pseudo scientific piece in which the author investigates and suggests what and how we may transform not-so-good situations during our travels into something good. We interpret this to mean that memories that are easily recalled and pleasant.

Well you be the judge of our take on this article here.

But what we do want to focus on today is not exactly how the memories are transformed, or for that matter how. What is more important to us is that one has memories in the first place. We’ve often heard friends and colleagues with children lament that they wished they had more time to spend with the young ones. To be there to see and participate in the lives of the children. Memories no less right?

What are the most memorable things you can recall from your youth? Times spent with parents? Heheh… probably not. Perhaps with friends more! That’s why our friends seem to want to build these memories with their children to have a ‘share of mind’.

For we have said countless times here in the blog, memories are but the only “things” that remain with us. Don’t you agree?

What seems tranquil that wasn’t

Will you travel to a gulag? Don’t know what that is? There was a really dark period of history in the story of Russia and its legacy remains till this day. Though from the onset one might not get the feeling that a lot of bad things happened here.

The location itself is definitely exotic enough.

This story from the Daily Mail covered it all (link). And the pictures that you will see in the link may suggest Solovetsky is a beautiful place to visit, albeit a little on the difficult to reach since it is ~100 miles from the arctic circle. Remember our post about this dream cruise (here)?

But the point is – some places appear so peaceful today when one strolls through it, but back in the day, there could have been carnage or immense suffering and destruction that took place. Well ‘Solovi’ has all the trappings of it all. One might bump into a monk, but the places were meditation and prayers take place today was once home to a brutal regime of torture.

Dark tourism some call it. Though there are also natural wonders such as the many arctic terns that nest in the islands as alternative sights of interests.

So here is one more of the exotic locales we wrote about in the vastness of the Russian federation (previous ones here). Will this inspire you to make the journey there?

Around the world in 245 days!

Heheh… not in 80 days but 3 times as long. Can you even start to imagine the amount of laundry you’d have to do to keep from smelling like the durian fruit? Happy New Year!

Can you stomach being aboard a cruise ship for almost a year? Well, if you have say £67,000 to spare (and that is per person), then this one’s surely one to put on your list… 113 ports in 59 countries. Now if you were looking for some way to increase your ‘how many countries I’ve travelled to’ count, surely this will bump up the score.

If this article (here) pricks your interest, well start saving or borrowing and make your booking. You still have some time…

It has been more than 13 years since we last set foot on a cruise ship – and the small yachts that we’ve been do not count. Eight months is a very long time. Might not be a cruise a single traveller will consider we think, but who knows? Well the comment at the start of the post about laundry wasn’t really a joke. Because the logistics of rotating clothing will be but one of the challenges. Unless one intends to buy and keep changing the OOTD, every day!

But hey!

We’re talking about a grand adventure where more than 50 countries will be touched. Sure is cost a small fortune, but it’s YOLO ain’t it?

PS: alternatively one can seek a job aboard the cruise… perhaps one cannot get off at all ports, but at least a stab at half of them?