A Look At Life III. . . . . . . . . .

Peaceful moments in England, Ireland, France and North Carolina - 2016

Hope you are enjoying your weekend wherever you are.

On a clear day. . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . they say "you can see forever".

On our last but one day in Devon, another spectacular sunrise. Later the sun

 shone brightly and it warmed up considerably compared to the damp, often

 blustery, days over Christmas.

Sunsets may be beautiful but sunrises can be even more gorgeous.

You will miss them if you don't rise early. . . . . . .or live in the wrong place, 

which I obviously do as we never see anything such as this from our cottage

 in the cul-de-sac surrounded by large trees!

Early morning then brought seabirds and these huge pigeons.

 Large flocks took turns wheeling around the rooftops as we stood out on the

 balcony enjoying the sunshine.

Soon the low tide brought dog walkers, joggers and strollers to the the beach.

 This is Abbey Sands, the safest beach for children to paddle and learn to swim.

It would have been lovely if every day of our six in Torquay had been sunny and

 warm like this one.

Next time we visit I think it will be either Spring, Summer or Autumn when we can 

take advantage of the longer, milder days as we did in 2015 when we visited in June.

However, it was lovely to see family and friends in England, and join in the holiday

 festivities of Portugal, Spain, and Morocco whilst cruising on Cunard's beautifully

 decorated Queen Victoria. On board we enjoyed the company of several new

 friends whom we really hope to meet up with again somewhere, someday. 

The joys of travel are many.

Let's go. . . . . . . . . .

I used this collage previously when leaving on another trip. 

I like it so much I'm posting it again. 

Actually it's because I don't have time to make another! 

Not going to Paris or Sweden, but will be on a wonderful river trip aboard a 

Viking river boat. These boats are often denoted as 'longships'. We embark our 

boat in beautiful Budapest, where first we'll meet up with some special blogging 

friends - can you guess who? 

Then we'll sail the Danube, Main and Rhine Rivers, visiting Hungary, Slovakia, 

Austria, Germany and ending in Amsterdam, the Netherlands

We'll be a group of eleven friends - American, British/American, British and Canadian. 

We've traveled often together, thanks to Paula, who will be at helm - though 
hopefully not steering the boat, ha ha!

Travel Tips

Pack light

Make sure your shoes can handle cobble stones

Take a rain jacket and collapsible umbrella 

Protect that precious passport 

Buy travel insurance

Have a load of Fun

It's in the bag. . . . . . . . . .

Reminder ~

this Friday I'll be picking the WINNER for the 

FREE 16"X20" canvas print + FREE shipping from canvaspop

If you haven't left a comment yet but would love

to have one of your special photos enlarged on quality canvas, 

which will look stunning on your wall, please leave a comment on

THIS POST

There will be one free print winner 

and everyone else will get a great discount code to use!

 Meanwhile . . . . it will soon be time to start packing again!

For many of us bags are our life lines. Travel bags, not including monster suitcases 

and duffel bags, have to be useful with enough space for the necessities of the occasion.

They need to be compact, comfortable, lightweight to pack into a suitcase and to carry, and 

I'm happy 'across body bags' are back - which really just means they have a longer 

adjustable strap. 

Nothing is more uncomfortable than hauling a heavy bag on one's shoulder, or in 

the hand, when trying to take photos of everything - which we do if we're 

bloggers, don't we?

For travel I like Baggallini brand. They have amazing bags, mostly in interesting,

hard wearing, attractive fabrics, and are therefore lighter than leather. 

My first was a wonderful gift from blog friend Sarah in Texas at Hyacinths 

For The Soul. It's the green/black print above and was for my first 

safari to Africa in 2010. Sarah's gift returned to Africa on my second safari and has 

been on several other trips around the world! It's my most traveled bag for sure.

The grey Baggallini I found quite unexpectedly at a huge discount at the 

AAA (auto/travel shop) when stopping by to pick up maps last year. I really love

this one too with it's many zippered pockets, comfy adjustable strap, and plenty

of room for more bulky items such as a small hairbrush, plus a compact camera!

My gift Baggallini from Sarah ~ Duma Tau Safari Camp

Botswana, May 2010

What's with that leather pouch! It's the same one in the two photos, with different 

colors on each side. Found at Madewell at the mall, on sale, and will use it as a 

casual evening bag when I just require my reading glasses, lipstick and cabin key!

I'm adding some deep ink blue clothes for this trip - the blue with red zippers will add 

a little pizazz!

The Eileen Fisher crinkled khaki raincoat/anorak has really been a good addition 

to my travel wardrobe. . . . .and I found it on sale!  

If you've checked Ms. Fisher's clothing line, as lovely as it is, prices are high and
I only buy from the sale rack!

It has a button-on hood, falls to the knee, with a drawstring at the waist and

a sturdy zipper and snaps - very well constructed. 

I've just washed it for the first time and it came out fine. The fabric has a very 

fine, invisible metallic thread in it which I'm guessing keep the crinkles in.

Don't laugh. 

If you know me, you know I always do this when preparing to travel - drag 

out the collapsible Container Store rack and start picking out my clothes and 

accessories several weeks ahead. I find this is the only way I can do it - view 

everything in a bright open room rather than bunched up in the closet among 

things I will not be packing. Here's the first dry run, and no, I will not be able to get 
all those clothes into my one permitted (by the husband) medium sized suitcase.  

I do a lot of mix and match with light layers which can then be adjusted 
according to the weather.
Colors are grey, black, aubergine and ink blue - all my jewelry will be silver.

The items on the pink hangers are already 'iffy' and will probably be left at home.

Out of view beneath the clothes are more scarves - never can have too many, two 
hats and a basket with at least fifty thousand toiletries/cosmetics to sort through. 
I won't bore you with that work in progress.

Footwear? That's whole different ball game and I've yet to tackle it for this trip.
There will be a lot of walking, and thankfully no high heels required for evening -  
back/hip/leg are all so grateful! Just know, the husband has already told me I 
cannot possibly take six pairs, and he will not make room for them in 
his suitcase, enough said.

Travel is not easy.

Viewing the world is fabulous.