Greece and the Yellow Rectangle

I grew up an avid reader of National Geographic magazine.  I spent hours poring through its photography and prose capturing beautiful landscapes, strange and exotic animals, and people so very different than myself.  I've no doubt that this viewport into a world so much more vast and complex than my own little sliver had a role in my lifelong love of travel.

It was National Geographic's Expeditions offering that rekindled my desire to travel to Egypt, and it is with them that we have tried several times to do so.  Through no fault of theirs or ours, those plans have fallen through; this latest due to rising conflict in the region and a warning by the State Department not to travel there.

Jen and I pivoted, initially to Italy, to a trip mostly by train from Venice to the Sicilian coast.  However, it wasn't possible to move our deposit from the Egypt tour to that one (something to do with the different types of trips not being under the same financial roof), and Greece was.  So, Greece.

Makes it sound like a compromise, but it was always near the top of both Jen's and my list of destinations.  An easy decision.

The trip is scheduled for the end of August to mid-September, and will take us from Athens down into the Pelloponaise, then up into Thessaly, before ending where we started.  We'll visit Corinth, Mycenae, Olympia, Delphi, and Meteora, as well as the vacation town of Nafplia.  So many sites, so much history.  It's the trip of a lifetime, Reader, whether you've read your Edith Hamilton or not.

Egypt Once Again

If you can dream—and not make dreams your master;

If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim;   

If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster;

And treat those two impostors just the same.

- Rudyard Kipling, "If"

On the 6th of July, I had cardiac ablation surgery to mitigate the atrial fibrillation I'd been suffering from.  It was a common operation but still required general anesthesia and was not without risk.  It scared me; I'd not done so many of the things I'd promised myself I'd do.  There were still so many places to go and wonderful experiences to have, to share with my wife and soulmate.

Of all those things, visiting Egypt has always been near if not at the top of the list.  I vowed that, if I awoke from surgery, I'd waste no time booking a new trip for us.

Done and done.

We will be heading to Egypt on the 21st of March, 2024, and staying until the 31st.  The tour is 1 day less than its 2022 version, and we have elected not to take the extension to Jordan.  I have mixed feelings on this, as I dearly wish to see the Petra, but I can also understand Jen's concern that we might be suffering from tour fatigue and wouldn't adequately appreciate the experience.  In the end, Jordan represents another opportunity to travel and experience the ancient world, and that too is exciting!

This trip has come to represent so much to us; not just a fulfillment of a lifelong dream, but a symbol of overcoming trials to health and happiness.  We have endured much these past few years, Jen and I, and it makes me resolved to have this experience even more.  It falls just after my 50th birthday, and just before Jen's 51st.  Our age has really begun to show, and the time to enjoy these experiences becomes more precious.  It's past time to have this one.