Hungry for more……
It’s nearly three weeks now since we returned from our Costa Rica and California trip, three weeks in which we’ve visited family, spent time with Michaela’s Mum, hugged granddaughters and taken in a couple of football matches. In other words, three weeks in which we’ve covered most of our reasons to be in England and so now we’ve started to once again get itchy about travel.
It goes without saying, now anyway, that the two years since we retired to travel the world haven’t quite gone according to plan, but we think we can look back and say we’ve been pretty resourceful and, in fact, the travels we have managed to complete have taken us to countries and sights which weren’t even necessarily on our radar at the end of 2019.
After abandoning our original adventure around South East Asia at the point where the world first shut down, we managed to grab five weeks in Croatia and then nine weeks in Turkey in 2020. The following year saw us spend 45 days touring England and Wales ahead of international travel opening up – then a 12-week tour of Greece and its islands and 5 days in Lithuania before we headed out to Costa Rica.
All in all, that amounts to 337 days away since the start of 2020, 292 of which have been outside of the UK. Until transiting from Costa Rica to California, we hadn’t attempted to cross borders post-COVID and had limited our ambitions to one country per trip up to that point.
Now though, we are ready for new challenges, and looking again for trips with multiple destinations. As international regulations change, we will most likely still have obstacles to overcome, but at the moment that seems to be adding to, rather than detracting from, the enjoyment of planning an adventure, and we find ourselves poring over maps and websites on a daily basis.
There is no doubt in our minds that the lengthier journeys which we have now enjoyed, have confirmed something which we always thought would be true: that we are never happier than when travelling. We wonder sometimes if we are becoming a kind of modern day “lotus eater”, who in mythology lost all sense of “home” after eating the lotus. We’re not quite at that stage yet, but the call of home is certainly weakening.
Our regular bolt hole of our beloved Cornwall is coming up, with another 2-week sojourn in Padstow from next week. But almost immediately after that, we will be boarding our 20th flight since retirement and heading further afield, to a land where arriving in the month of Ramadan will be significant.
Those itchy feet of ours are active.
(Just a short addendum to say that we penned these lines just ahead of this week’s developments in Europe. We make no further comment on that)
18 Comments
Annie Berger
Was only going to read the first few lines and save the rest for later but couldn’t stop reading your post and also admire the photos of home and abroad!
Steven and I can certainly understand your sense of wanderlust since you retired. The pandemic didn’t ‘keep us down on the farm’ nor you both either obviously. Looking forward to your posts from the Middle East or wherever else you will be taking us next!
Phil & Michaela
Thank you Annie, yes I think the Bergers and the Sharmans have managed to not miss out too much!
Monkey's Tale
Your home does look lovely. Looking forward to the next trip! Maggie
Phil & Michaela
Thank you Maggie, can’t wait to get going again!
Marie
Here’s to the next trip……
Jyothi
Lovely pics, Michaela!
grandmisadventures
beautiful pictures from all over! You have been able to travel to such incredible places even with the restrictions. Can’t wait for the next chapter!
leightontravels
I’m on the edge of my seat for the next destination reveal. My guess is Jordan.
Phil & Michaela
Ha ha well we’ll see. Hope you’re enjoying the English February weather…
Lookoom
Give us a little hope, a little sunshine, when there is so much darkness around at the moment. That’s what a trip to a beautiful place, well narrated, also brings.
Phil & Michaela
This has certainly been a dark week
WanderingCanadians
The thing with getting hit with the travel bug is that once you feed it, it only seems to want more! I love how you’ve managed to make the most of the pandemic and used it as a good opportunity to visit other places that weren’t even on your radar. All the best on planning for your future adventures. I’m looking forward to virtually coming along! Cheers. Linda
Phil & Michaela
Thank you for your kind comments
Toonsarah
Like you we’ve visited places that weren’t necessarily on our radar pre-pandemic, but unlike you we’re happy to spend longer periods at home between trips, making the most of all London has to off too. Nevertheless now we’re back from Costa Rica I can’t wait to at least start planning the next trip!
I’m excited to see where you go next and to travel along with you 😀
Christie
I can totally connect with your feelings, and with those itchy feet😊 The more we travel, the more we want to!
I am impressed how well you did it (travel wise), considering we’ve had so many lockdowns and restrictions in the past 2 years.
I’m all ears to hear about your new plans!
Cheers, Christie
Phil & Michaela
Thank you Christie…getting more and more ready!
Christie
Can’t wait to hear more🙂
Alison
You have sure travelled a lot and I’ve been with you on most of your journeys..haha if only that were true. Yes now there is the war it creates a whole new set of rules, and most probably will lead to longer flying times. Anyway will watch this space 🙂