The Adventure is Over - for now.....

Images: My Partner and images of Sifnos, the island we have decided that we will return to.

Sorry to have delayed this epilogue, but our computer keyboard was not working well. SOMEBODY spilled a whole beer in it. Keyboards apparently do not appreciate Labatt's Blue.

At the end of each football season, when the playoffs were over and the kids had gone home, there was always for me, a sense of loss somewhat similar to looking at the carcass of the turkey after Christmas dinner. It was great, it was fun, but an AWFUL lot of preparation and hard work had gone into it, and now it was done. Our football teams needed to learn offense, defense, special teams, cadence, nomenclature, audibles, technique, formations, plays, blocking schemes, traps, stunts, pass patterns, kicking - the hundreds of things that you do to prepare... and then... it's over. That particular group will never play together again. This trip was a lot of fun, and a LOT of work and preparation. It is not surprising that there is now a similar sense of let-down.

SL did most of the work, researching hotels, B and Bs, ferry schedules, car rentals, airlines, and putting together a terrific itinerary. We learned some Greek and a fair bit of Italian. In fact, when we returned to Italy from Greece, we felt very comfortable, like we were speaking our native tongue - well OK, maybe not quite, but we got along well.
We learned to navigate roads in Rome, Florence, the Tuscan Hills, Naples, Salerno, Sicily, Bologna, Naxos, Sifnos, and Milos. We learned how to order food, how to shop, which kind of motorcycle to rent, how to ask directions, how to read signs, how best to organize our luggage, how to stay healthy, how to manage the buses, and how to survive the mind-numbing nightmares of terminals.
Like the Christmas turkey, a pretty ambitious undertaking, a lot of work, and now its over. Apart from terrific soup, there's not much use for the remains of the old bird. Of what use will we make of everything we have learned? What's the soup?

We are back in Canada. Canada is a wonderful place, clean, and safe. We look after people here.
Some things come to mind upon our return:
There are many people in this world who live very simply, and very happily. Here in Canada, we all seem to have a lot of stuff that needs care and feeding.

If you have seen the movie “Up in the Air”, starring George Clooney and our very own Ali Shipley, you will know that it is about a man who lives his whole life in airports and hotels. He lives out of a carry-on bag. We lived that life for seven weeks.
When you come home you have cars that need insurance renewed, emission tests, plates renewed: A house that needs the lawn and garden tended, the roof fixed, repairs to various HVAC components. Gas, hydro, tax, credit card phone, Internet, insurance bills. Our lives now seem very cluttered compared to our footloose spring.

SL did not do whatever women do each day to their hair, nor did she go to a hairdresser. She grew more beautiful every day. Truly. It is worth noting, however, that she did not cut her own hair with our nail scissors late one night after a kilo of Greek wine. She is still my best friend, and I don't think we fought once on the trip. It may be possible that we did and I didn't realize it, as I am not always quick on the uptake, but I don't think so. She's a great travelling companion.

This is the fortieth blog post. For those of you who followed along - thank you! It was a way of staying connected to all we missed and sharing with you our highs and lows - mostly supreme heights! For those of you who commented, you cannot know how much we appreciated it. We will continue to travel as much as our health and our wealth (??) allow.