"I have been a traveler in a strange land." (Exodus)

.....My well-traveled son and daughter-in-law who have almost covered the globe with their cash and their luggage have recently decided to engrave their footsteps on the streets of Poland, Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, Russia & etc. Why they chose those blah countries for a vacation I have no idea, except perhaps that they haven't been there. When my son was laboring for "the agency" he and my two grandchildren resided in England, Panama, & Okinawa. RH+ and I went to see them in England in 1983 while on our honeymoon. If memory serves me (as lately it hasn't) we were there for a month. We could not visit them in Panama because we did not trust Noriega. Only kidding. Actually, I wasn't up to it at the time--mentally or physically. Unfortunately, I did not have the opportunity to see JR's and Barbara's kids as they were growing up. Unfortunately, they didn't have the opportunity of seeing me either. Going back at a time when JR graduated from Cornell, he began teaching in Tenterfield, Australia (wherever that is). I did learn that they forced him to play rugby and to drink beer. He writes all about his experiences in the book, "Phases of the Moon" which he recently published. Coincidentally, Barbara also went to Australia to teach in Sydney and they dated there. Then after a couple of years, they returned to the States by a circuitous route touching down in several European countries and then, married.

.....Today, I received the following e-mail from St. Petersburg:

We left Estonia and drove many hours to St. Petersburg. Our third and last night is tonight. It is a beautiful city. However, it is very hot, and Russians do not believe in AC or cold drinks or ice (except maybe outside in winter). I bought a can of Coke from a hotel vending machine, and the can was actually warm. So we called the front desk and asked that they send some ice to our room (there are no ice machines). They agreed, if we would pay $4 for the ice. So I went without Coke. Did I mention that we are staying at a "4-star" hotel?

..... I reminded him that when I traveled (ages ago), I usually carried my own ice. Anyway, the rigors of traveling require too much planning and too much labor. It all starts with the excitement and anticipation of the pleasures that would ensue. Au contraire. The excitement begins to thaw and the pleasures to dissipate when you must decide what clothing to bring; then comes the packing; when you think you've concluded, the fear that you might not have packed properly for the destination requires that you stuff the baggage to the point where the airline would jump for joy considering the fee that they would collect for the overweight. (I don't really mean that the airline could actually "jump"; I'm only using an appropriate metaphor.) But, if you're off to the Caribbean on a cruise, you'll, naturally, have to pack an extra tech vest or sweat suit in the event there is a cold wave.

.....It never used to be this way, but nowadays, in this fear-infested globe, you have to practically disrobe before you may board your flight. After they make me take off my shoes to see if I planted a bomb in them, (A bomb? I can't even get my socks on) they do not offer to put them back on me again. It's a good thing I have a nimble wife to assist me because I haven't seen my knees in a long time, and bending down more than a few inches would bring on a 911 call. The new trick in the airport is a machine that allows an agent to view your nude body (or is it "naked"). If the agent had to look at bodies like mine every minute of every day, he would most likely have to keep one of those barf bags close by. Of course, if it's a female agent, I try to look my best.