CHAPTER 1
Annnnnnd, we’re back… Well, it’s certainly been a long time since our last update- our adventure to Antarctica, and then our Pacific odyssey home via the Antipodes and Hawaii, was completed almost two years ago- but don’t despair, we have not been lazy bumps on a log since then… In fact, we have been so busy that the intervening time has passed by like a hurricane, leaving little chance to share the wonders of our exploits with the wider world. Since we have returned from the Southern hemisphere though, we have gone on a number of adventures, including two long expeditions to Europe, stamping our passports in no less than eleven countries; we have made many trips home to our native Colorado for birthdays, weddings, and holidays; and we have searched for, discovered, and purchased the conveyance for the next exciting phase of our lives, literally, and our dreams, figuratively: a 47’ sailboat soon to be christened the Saint Robert (which is French, and pronounced “san rho-bare”). But that is a story waiting to be told. First, and necessarily so, I am eager to relate the narrative of the aforementioned twin trips to Europe, which along with one trip we went on before we left to Antarctica, I am hereby dubbing the Old World Expeditions.
Each summer, for the past three years, we have had the good fortune of being unemployed, able to take a leave of absence, or quit our jobs if necessary, pack our bags, and jump on a plane to Europe. The major impetus for these adventures was twofold: the fact that our good friends Jake and Jackie happened to be living in London for the last three years- always a good place to use as a home base for exploring the continent, and always a treat to spend time and travel with besides; and our other good friend Taylor, who was braving the wilds of North Africa in the Peace Corp, and who we eagerly wanted to visit, so that we could get a local’s tour of the Moroccan Maghreb while we had a chance. These major motivations, along with a plethora of smaller ones, ended up manifesting themselves into three different, amazing trips to Europe, the Old World, the first of which will be the subject of the next several blog posts…
As previously mentioned in this blog, for the time being I am going to focus on the photographic aspect of our adventures, and try to keep the written accounts short and sweet. This will help me catch up to our current state in life, while still giving everyone the chance to see, in a reasonable amount of time, the hundreds of photos that I have tirelessly edited over the past two years, and which I think give a much better account of our adventures than my blathering attempts at autobiography.
So, without further adieu, I present to you…
