We read XXX books, most recommended:

• Rediscovering travel
• Eine Heldin reist
• Yrsa

We visited 20 different countries, some of them more than once (USA/CA -> USA/NY, England (2x), Germany (7x), Sweden, Iceland, Norway, Scotland, France, Belgium, Italy (4x), Spain (2x), Austria (2x), Morocco, Greece, Portugal, USA/FL, Colombia, Panama, Guatemala, Mexico -> USA/CA)

• Best food
• Warmest
• Coldest
• Most expensive
• Cheapest
• Best public transportation
• Worst food
• Cheapest
• Best music
• Worst music
• Most exotic
• Most impressive building / construction
• Longest stay
• Country with most miles travelled
• Favorite island
• Highest elevation
• Favorite ship
• Favorite museum
• Favorite restaurant (food)
• Favorite restaurant (view)
• Best wine
• Best performance
• Ear worm music list
• Transportation list
• Injuries
• Haircuts
• Worst experiences
• Best hotel
• Worst hotel
• Best toilet
• Worst toilet
• Biggest purchase
• Most romantic place
• Animal list
• Mistakes
• Regrets
• Most worn shoes
• Weight gain
• Country colors
• Favorite big city
• Least favorite big city
• Overall most fascinating, surprising country
• Favorite small town / village

Being away for 8 months, traveling around 20 countries in 4 continents, can you imagine what an overload of stimulating impressions we had? We experienced many flavors, we listened to a wide variety of music, we lived in many different places, most of them very comfortable, some not so much, but hey! We would do all this over and over again. There is nothing in the world that makes you richer than traveling!

And now we are back in California and do you know why? Check out my photos and you’ll know why…

Thank god for all the rain, because the wildflowers love it. And we love the wildflowers!

“If you want to walk fast, walk alone. But if you want to walk far, walk with company”

Ricky Gervais

We saw a variety of Lupines, Cream Cups, Popcorn flowers, Daisies, Tidy Tips, Sun Cups, Red Maids, and many more.

This whole weekend was so much fun! We hiked at Santa Lucia Memorial Park near the San Antonio Mission. Fortunately the rattlesnake didn’t mess up our dinner plans at “In Bloom”, a new Michelin Star restaurant in Paso Robles, that didn’t promise too much: the food was delicious, the service was professional, the wine exceptional (thanks to Michael!) and the drinks were tasty and fun…

All the wildflower photos were taken around Carizzo Plain National Monument, a short drive East of Paso Robles, where we just experiences a picture perfect day with sun, clouds, happy cows and an abundance of vibrant colors!

Slowly but steadily we sink in to “normal” again! We cook our favorite food, we hike our favorite trails, we visit our favorite wineries, etc. Life is good!

NCNC is the North County Newcomer Group that we joined ~1.5 years ago. Around 400 group members mingle at different gatherings, from hiking to biking, eating and drinking, to photography and knitting. There are convertible car lovers, yoga, book clubs, game groups, line dancing, gardening and interior design groups and all those other groups I forgot to mention 😵‍💫 I’m part of the tangled treasures group (textile art), yoga and book club, Ted and I joined the wine group, hiking (of course), and the AHHH, the At-Home-Happy-Hour group, which is divided up into groups of ~10 people, who meet once a month at somebodies house with an appetizer and drinks to share. Every 6 months the groups will be reconfigured, so you end up in another group and get to know other people. Meetings at our house always happen outside in the garden. Hosting 8 or 10 other people would make our tiny house explode 🙃

Traveling around for 8 month came finally to an end. We were not ready for this, we didn’t look forward to this and we were asking ourselves: why are we going home already?

Returning in January means ( for Edith): it is cold, wear boots and a warm jacket! For Ted it means: California, here we come!

So we arrived at 8am at the cruise terminal in LA when Timo & Dana picked us up and we went to breakfast.

Sticker Shock #1: we ordered 3 breakfast dishes (Ted and I shared one since we have had breakfast on the ship already), we ordered 3 coffees, 1 tea and 1 orange juice. Breakfast was very good, service was very nice, the price was a shock: $100

We love to go to farmers markets, markets, Mercado, Mercado Central, etc. Discovering fruits and herbs, spices and vegetables and all kinds of goodies. Tough was the cruise ship voyage, where the general policy is to not take any food or drink off the ship and not bring anything onto the ship. So our market visits always ended without goodies, the only thing we could take were photos! Being back in California, we immediately visited our local farmers market in Templeton. There we finally could buy stuff to cook our meals and enjoy local fruits and vegetables. But we had forgotten, that out of all 20+ countries we visited these last 8 months, by far the most expensive place is called home!

Sticker Shock #2: we bought 1 spaghetti squash $13, 1 bread $12, 1 frozen chicken $23 and some more veggies. The idea of having lunch somewhere was not so appealing anymore. Better go home and cook some soup!

We also went to a local supermarket where we saw this: next to the cash register are the batteries. And they are locked up! Wonder why? Do people steal batteries now? Or are they afraid that little children will eat them? Or do you have to be 21 years old to buy them nowadays? Questions, we have lots of questions…..

Coming home and getting settled in will take a while I guess…..

Our original plan to arrive back in Paso Robles with a train from LA didn’t work out; it got cancelled, so we whipped up a plan B: renting a car and enjoying a ride to Santa Barbara, had lunch sitting outside in the sun, and slowly we made our way back home to Paso Robles.

It is difficult to come back home, not live out of a suitcase anymore, have the same bed every night, the same views, having chores to do and mail to open. Mail, lots of mail collected for the last 8 months, and packages and suitcases that we sent full with stuff we bought along the way!

Home, Sweet Home! Is it sweet? I guess…..

Maybe we have to sleep a night or two to enjoy being home again. A good thing is that we already got travel catalogs in the mail…

Arriving at the cruise terminal in Los Angeles (San Pedro to be precise) is a miracle. No luggage gets lost, all people are found, everybody finds his/her way out to a bus or an Uber, a taxi or a friend.

It is a miracle, considering that the ship arrived at the port at 8am and we walk outside the terminal at 8.30am!

Timo & Dana picked us up and we had a nice day together with breakfast, a beautiful hike, some fun Romme card games (that Dana and I successfully completed), a traditional German dinner (yummy), a good nights sleep and a final good bye…..

Our last day at sea and it is a bit melancholic. Our trip of 8 months is coming to an end and we really don’t want to go home yet! How about traveling in the opposite direction? Arriving in LA and head south instead of north. We already received a sign when our train from LA to Paso Robles got cancelled. Doesn’t it implement that we are not ready to go home and should go other places first? We always should listen to our inner voice. The sixth sense so to speak…..

We spend our day with some leisurely activities, like chocolate & wine tasting, mingling with our newly found friends Naomi & Richard and enjoying a quiet day on board. Tomorrow morning we’ll arrive in LA and real life will kick in sooner than we’d like. So stay tuned!

Cabo San Lucas is our next stop and we reminisce about our trip there in 2018, when we took a 1-week long cooking class there during Springbreak. Every day we left our Airbnb, walked down to the harbor and chose a different restaurant, where I ordered different versions of Chilaquiles. I just love that stuff! And being back to Cabo, I wanted to eat Chilaquiles again!

We walked around the harbor, enjoyed the perfect warm weather and cruised off with another fun evening of comedy, the Beatles (Yeah,Yeah,Yeah) and a get together with Naomi & Richard from San Diego.

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Chilaquiles Recipe

https://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/chilaquiles/

Mazatlan is our next stop. It is “just” north of Puerto Vallarta, but surprisingly, there is a time change between Vallarta and Mazatlan from central to mountain time 🧐

On our way off the ship we ran into Naomi & Richard, a couple we met in Antigua! They were about to hike to the lighthouse as well, so we spent the next few hours together. Sometimes you meet people that are just the perfect fit! They have similar interests, point of views and a likeminded humor. Time flies together and ~500 steps to the lighthouse are less exhausting 🤪

Colors of Mazatlan

Lighthouse

We hiked from the ship to and up to the lighthouse, the highest operating lighthouse in the world! The views were spectacular!

Oldtown

We didn’t get enough from Mazatlan, so we walked to the oldtown, the plaza (where we ate delicious chilaquiles), the cathedral, centro Mercado, and back to the ship – it seemed like a very good workout and a well deserved nap!

Puerto Vallarta, another beautiful beach town in Mexico, is better preserved than Acapulco, but more touristy. I think it is one of the more popular vacation destinations in Mexico nowadays (beside Cancun and Cabo). But despite 3 cruise ships in town, it didn’t feel crowded or swamped with people. In fact, the beach and the shopping mall we visited were very quiet!

We walked 7.5 miles today, mostly along the sandy beach which is demanding! But it was very beautiful! Perfect weather, sand between your toes, what else do you need?

Our evening we spent back on the ship, with a lovely dinner, a comedy show and a Motown music concert. There are always so many choices….. Each day we get a 4-page newsletter (Ted gets the English and I get the German version) in the room with all necessary, important and interesting news of the next day: time changes, dining options, entertaining highlights, etc