Our newest adventure begins tomorrow morning, July 6, when we head for the Tampa Airport to fly via JFK to Rome, Italy. We will be gone for 3 weeks and are traveling with friends Bill and Lucy Kemp from Bradenton and Jerry and Pat Stitt from Buffalo. After a night on the airplane and then a night in a hotel, The Majestic, we will be boarding Holland America’s ms Noordam to sail in the Mediterranean. We are going to Dubrovnik, Croatia; the Greek Isles; Kusadasi, Turkey; Tunis, Tunisia; Monte Carlo, Monaco; Barcelona, Spain; Mallorca, Spain; and Messina and Palermo in Sicily.

Much of this trip is for us familiar territory but the fun of sharing it again with friends who are seeing it all for the first time will make our journey exciting. Plus, we have learned through the years that you always see something new and different even in familiar spots if you just look.

Bill and Lucy introduced us to cruising in July of 1991. When this journey is over we will have taken 34 cruises and spent 359 days onboard a variety of ships. We have taken “A+” cruise ships through some that would probably be ranked as “C” but we have never met a cruise we didn’t enjoy. It is a great way to see the world while having your hotel move right along with you, see amazing sights, make new friends, enjoy delicious food and experience terrific entertainment…... So off we go!