And so it begins......we are down to the wire! YIKES! Stress!

So- tomorrow we start our Excellent Adventure!  We have been talking about this trip for decades! Ever since we started traveling in the early 80's, we talked about long term travel, even living in Europe.  And now it is here........

At 9 AM our friends Rick and Ellen pick us up, and we all trek down to Orange County!  Rick and Ellen are visiting their daughters and will be enjoying a family trip to Japan.  Rich and I will spend time with Cody and my family, then Monday morning we fly to Florida with our friend Dave, where we will travel for 4 days before we board the Holland America cruise ship the Noordham, on Friday March 21.  We will post from Florida as we hear it is beautiful!

Preparation: (this is where you feel sorry for us:-))- hire a gardener and pool person (previously Patrick's jobs), arrange for the correct bank account access, plan our trip (still not done!), find someone who will watch the house and feed Henry (our fish) (thank you so much Jennifer!!), and pack for 6 months.  Of course, include whining how hard it is and get on each others nerves!  Rich's sister says no one will feel sorry for us, but I am sure there is a kind soul out there who will feel sorry for us:-).

Most of all, we are looking forward to great new experiences, meeting awesome people, eating great food, visiting great and cute European cities/towns, seeing history in the making, and finding a beach for the perfect tan (yes, we have aging bodies, but they still tan- and those are NOT liver-spots!). Sharing this with you will be awesome!  I hope you leave comments!  We will also post to Facebook. For now, we love you all, and can't wait to come home and see you again!