Because of the sale of the coastal flat, we have some money to spend. Part of it will go to the renovations of our house, but a big part will contribute to our travels. Yes, travelling is our joy and our aim is to see as much of the world as we can. We have inherited these travel genes from our grandparents, who in the 1930's already visited other places in Europe - like France, Italy and Germany. I remember how fondly grandma talked about her visit to the Milan Scala, where she saw La Traviata with one or other famous tenor. Or how wonderful the Black Forest in Germany would be, with all these storylike castles.
Our parents also got the vibe. And us, as kids, asked if we could go along. We could, as soon as we reached the age of 6 and could sit still at table and eat with knife and fork... Needless to say we managed that!
Since then, we've seen most parts of Europe, been to North America and South America, visited Asia and Africa. Last year we even made it to the North Pole.
At the end of this year, we'll make our big trip to Down Under, with a stopover at Singapore. And then in January we'll visit India. There'll be a chance to meet my penpal of more than 50 years, Rajeev Masodkar. That'll be a joy! And we finally get to see the Taj Mahal and the tigers in the Ranthambore National Park. Guess I just need to be careful with the spices. They can be rather hot there.
Then, in February-March, there will follow another long trip. We'll travel to Hong Kong, where we'll board a fourteen-day cruise that willl take us to several ports in China, North Korea and Japan. We will leave ship in Tokyo, where we will stay for a couple of days before returning home. As we are flying Qatar Airways, we decided to make a stopover in Doha before returning to Brussels.
In May we intend to travel to the USA. We've never been in the Southern States, so now we'll try to visit some of the places there, like New Orleans and Savannah.
In July we most likely will return to Scuol in Switzerland (mountain air does me good) and attach some days in France (Evian-Les-Bains) to it.
And then, depending on how many Hilton honor points we save, we can do a trip to Helsinki in Finland and from there take the ferry to Tallinn, Estland. That would be a nice trip too.
Of course, in between we may spend a day or two in Antwerp or Brussels, or a place in Holland (Rotterdam, Utrecht). Or take the Eurostar to London to see a show.
Anyway, I guess that by the end of next year, we'll have visited at least 55 countries world-wide. And those memories nobody can take away.
