Back to the good ole USA - What a trip!

We fell down on our blogging towards the end of our trip, but wanted to give you our last update!  After visiting Lindsay's family in Switzerland (we had such a good time), we visited friends in Holland, England, and then Ireland before heading back to the USA.  What a GREAT time we had in each place!

In Holland, Lindsay and I got to spend time with my family's foreign exchange student that we had in high school!  She is married and has two precious kids - so cute!  We had a wonderful weekend with them in central Holland.  One of the days, Lindsay and I ventured to Amsterdam - an eye opening place, to say the least!  

We stayed in England for about a week.  We stayed with some wonderful friends in London and other good friends in a small town north of London.  We saw so many sites and places it would take several pages to fill you in!!  We did get to see where Shakespeare grew up - Stratford-Upon-Avon - it was a great place to visit!  Hiking through the country side of England as well as seeing the history of London was a lot of fun.  

Ireland was absolutely beautiful!  We were near the West Coast in a town called Killarney.  We toured around the Ring of Kerry and were blown away by the green we saw everywhere we went!  We were very fortunate to stay with my best friend's family - we just had a ball, and they were such great hosts!  

Lindsay and I are now back in Texas getting settled, and very much looking forward to the next chapter in our lives.  She is starting a masters degree in Counseling, and I am looking for a new job!  

Our trip was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and I think when we look back on all that we did, we will be so happy we took a chance and traveled.  What a thrill it was... and what an opportunity not too many people get - we are both grateful and humbled by our traveling experience.  In the end, I am just very pleased we had such a great time with no major health issues.   Thanks for reading our blog!

God bless,

JB and Lindsay

Hanging Out With The Fam in Switzerland

When I tell people that I have family in Switzerland, I almost inevitably get the "oh, so you're Swiss.  I can totally see that" comment.  It's funny, because to my knowledge, I don't have a drop of Swiss ancestry in me.  I do, however, have an aunt, an uncle, and three cousins in Switzerland.  It's always a great time visiting our Swiss family, because they don't make it to the U.S. very often, and we don't make it to Switzerland very often.

JB and I were lucky to spend a week with them in Basel and the Alps recently, just hanging out and seeing the local sights.  We only saw my cousin Jonas for a day before he left for an Italian vacation with his friends, but we got to see lots of my cousins, Mirjam and David, and of course my Uncle Richard and Aunt Beatrice.  We saw an amazing Van Gogh exhibit in Basel, took a day trip through the Black Forest region of Germany just across the border, did a little hiking in the Alps, and took a day trip to see both the Swiss and Italian Alps and the famous, ritzy ski resort St. Moritz.  Apart from doing some touristy things, we had some good quality time playing intense games of Monopoly, Yatzee, and ping pong and going out with David and Mirjam.

Switzerland is a beautiful place, and even after going to so many different countries, it still remains one of my favorite places to go, if not my absolute favorite.  It's got spectacular scenery; it's an outdoor adventurer's paradise; it's clean; it's safe; people are friendly; they make some of the best cheese in the world and have ready access to the best wines; there are flowers and gardens everywhere; public transportation is easy and abundant...I could go on.  The only two big downsides--it gets COLD in the winter, and something as "cheap" as a Big Mac costs nearly seven dollars in Switzerland!  Thank goodness we have such a great family there to take care of us!

Cruise of a lifetime - Mediterranean

After spending 12 days on the ship, Brillance of the Seas, Lindsay and I pinched ourselves as we realized we had just gone on a cruise in the historcial Mediterranean Sea. It was an amazing trip! We saw ancient Greek ruins in Athens and many reminders of the great Roman Empire in Rome, Pisa, Ephesus, and more. We toured the Vatican and got to stand in the same place Paul stood during his time in Ephesus - simply incredible. Seeing history from 300 BC (and some before) was breathtaking. (Not to mentioned the hot weather at times was breathtaking too!) And I used to think Williamsburg, Virginia was really old!!
We were joined on this cruise by both sets of our parents, all three sets of my aunts and uncles, and several wonderful friends - 17 of us in total. Our American group took the Mediterrnaean by storm!
We are now visiting Lindsay's aunt, uncle and cousins in Basel Switzerland and having a fantastic time.

It's All Greek To Me

Athens.  The history is amazing.  Seeing the ancient Greek ruins from 2400 years ago was breathtaking!  One evening during our time in Greece, we actually got to watch a concert in one of the world’s oldest theaters, built a few centuries before Christ walked the earth.   That was a long time ago!  The theater was right next to the Acropolis and even though Lindsay nor I could understand what was being said, we really enjoyed the music.  It was all "Greek to us", but we enjoyed it thoroughly. 

 We spent eight days and nights in Greece, five of which were spent in one of our friend’s apartment units in a central location of Athens.  It was so nice of them to let us use their place – and a wonderful reprieve from our travels for Lindsay and I to have a place all to ourselves for more than a week.

 As we walked from the apartment to the city center (about 3 miles each way) we took in the buzzing city of 5 million people and simply enjoyed people watching.  Lindsay and I actually spent several hours having drinks and eating chips while watching people walk by.  It was all "Greek to us", but the fashions, the attitudes, the manners, the customs, the culture – it was all fun to step back and observe!  

I kept telling Lindsay “these are my peeps” because my last name originated in Greece.   My last name ‘Horton’ comes from the Greek work “Hortous”, which means gardener (or farmer) in Greek.  I believe it has its roots in the Greek word horticulture.  The question for me, then, is why wasn’t I born with a green thumb??  It must have skipped my generation!  J   Anyway, I have always viewed Greece as the place where my ancestors came from long, long ago; hence the phrase, “my peeps”. 

During our stay, we decided to be adventurous and visit one to the beautiful Greek islands.  We settled on the island of Agistri, which is only one hour away, by ferry, from the Athens port called Piraeus.  Or so we thought.  After missing our ferry (it left 2 minutes early), we decided to take a different route.  It took us a few hours to wait, but after our new ferry ride we found ourselves on another island named Aigina.  Being delayed there for another 3 hours for our next connecting ferry, our original "one-hour" ferry trip turned into a "6-hour journey"!  Finally we reached our island of Agistri, but then we found out we arrived at the wrong ferry port which was about 2 kilometers from our hotel!  So, with smiles and good attitudes, we walked for another 30 minutes with our bags in the heat of the day and finally made it to our hotel room.  It was so nice to just get there!  You would think all the signs were in Greek or something! 

 We spent three wonderful days and nights on that beautiful island.  We had so much fun.  It was peaceful, sunny, and relaxing.  The water was beautiful – a little cold, but we managed to get to the beach as much as we could. 

 On our last full day on the island, we did have a nice cultural experience I'll share.  Like many countries around Europe, the beachwear can be quite different from most of the rest of the world.  In fact, many women hardly wear any clothes at all!  (Sadly, most of the time we would like to say “mam’, could you please put that back on? – but we refrain.)  At one swimming place we found on the south part of the island, we were joined by a Greek couple from Athens.  The woman asked how the water was, and Lindsay and I encouraged them to get in because it really felt great on that hot day.  She was then very enthusiastic to get in.  After taking off her outer garments to get to her bikini that she had on, she then proceeded to take her bikini top off!  (I later wondered why she wore a bikini underneath at all?)   She then walked around the platform where her boyfriend was, along with two women from Sweden who did not seem to notice, and then she got ready to dive in.  About five minutes later she dove head first into the water near where Lindsay and I where swimming.  She then swam up to us, had a nice normal conversation in English, and then off she went swimming elsewhere.  Lindsay and I looked at each other and laughed.  Being topless was normal to our new Greek friend.  It was no big deal and we talked with her as though we were perfectly comfortable with it as well.  We just went with the flow.  When in Greece, do as the Greeks!  (Though Lindsay decided to not go all Greek – she kept her bathing suit on! J )

Our entire time in Greece was fantastic.  We are grateful for the opportunity to travel and to see such a wonderful country and to have such good friends to let us use their apartment.   

If someone were to ask me where they should go on their next vacation, I would say "It’s all Greek to me."

God bless....  JB and Lindsay  

Making Friends Wherever We Go

By far, one of the coolest things about traveling is meeting people.  When you travel around the world, you inevitably end up meeting people from all over the world.  Everyone has a different story, and I think you learn a lot from all the different people you meet, even if it's just to understand a culture better than you did before.  

On our trip, we have met people from Minnesota, Boston, England, Germany, Australia, New Zealand, Sweden, Thailand, India, Greece, and more.  In Istanbul, we happened to meet an elderly Turkish man who we saw every day that we were there.  He must have lived several doors down from our hotel, because every day he would be sitting outside in his chair on the sidewalk, watching the world pass by.  Sometimes he would be across the street playing some kind of board game with the shop owner, and sometimes he would be helping direct a vehicle that was parking, but he was almost always there.  He spoke hardly any English, and we spoke even less Turkish, but somehow he took a liking to us.  His eyes always lit up when we passed by, and he would always say hello and shake our hands and smile and say lots of things in Turkish that we didn't understand.  We, in turn, would smile at him and shake his hand and say things in English that he probably didn't understand either, but it didn't matter because we were being friendly and he was being friendly.  It was nice to walk down the street and know that someone was going to see you and be happy about it.

One day, as he saw us approaching, he pointed his finger and hurried inside.  We weren't sure what he was doing, but a shop keeper across the street told us (in English) that he wanted to give us something.  Sure enough, a minute or so later, he emerged with a quilted cell phone/camera case for me.  It was such a nice thing for him to do that when we'd pass by later we would show him that we were using it to hold our camera.  On the day that we left, he seemed so sad.  "America?" he asked.  We told him that, yes, we were indeed going back to America.  (Considering the language barrier, there was no way we could explain that we would be traveling for another month and a half before actually returning to America.)  He kissed JB on the forehead and held my right hand in his to say goodbye.  We will, of course, never see this man again, but we enjoyed seeing him while we were there.  

Now we are off to new places to meet new people and learn new things.  Traveling the world is undeniably as much about meeting the people as it is about seeing the historical sights, and we enjoy every bit of it!

Rock Stars - or Just Foreigners?

When we arrived at India Gate, the tall arched structure in New Delhi symbolizing democracy and freedom for the 1.1 billion people of India, we found that the local tourists visiting from other parts of India were not taking pictures of this impressive international symbol. Nope. They were taking pictures of Lindsay and I. Not only were pictures being taken, many people approached us to ask if they could take pictures with us! We were suddenly, rock stars.

This was a pretty fun occurrence.... for about 20 minutes. :) After a few days of this attention, Lindsay and I decided it would be a little difficult being famous! Almost everywhere we went, we got the same attention - I felt I had finally arrived!! :) Now granted, I would like to think that I got as much attention as Lindsay simply because I looked famous, but the fact is, she got more attention than I did. Perhaps it is because she is a tall 5 foot 10 inches with blond hair walking among only Indian populations as far as the eye could see? You be the judge.

As for our time in India - we had an incredible stay. Our friends were so gracious and hospitable, we laughed a lot and enjoyed the amazing sites of their wonderful country. During our time there, I was able to accomplish another one of my lifelong goals - to visit the Taj Mahal!! And though we wanted to be anonymous there, we were soon discovered and pictures were taken of us and with us by the other visiting Indian tourists. Can you see why we would be so interesting, compared to one of the great wonders of the world? I just hated that we were taking attention away from the main attraction - the Taj Mahal. (just kidding, we were most amused by the attention we were getting). The Taj Mahal was an absolutely amazing place - no doubt about it. Here is a picture of us visiting there!

Once we left India, our Rock Star status left us as well. Oh well, it was fun (well, some of it) while it lasted. India was a great time for both of us - a great land of contrast.

God bless,

JB and Lindsay

Getting Sick in Thailand

Getting sick is never fun, but there are some times when you really, really don't want to get sick...like when you're traveling in foreign countries where the health care might be questionable. Well, I got sick in Thailand. Actually, I got an ear infection from all of the snorkeling and swimming that I'd been doing down in Phuket. I woke up one morning with a little bit of an earache, and within 24 hours it was a full-blown, very painful, ear infection. We flew back to Bangkok that day, and that night I woke up in the early morning hours with terrible pain in my left ear. It was so bad that JB even thought of taking me to the emergency room. I've never had an ear infection before, and it was horrible to get one so far away from home. The next morning (on JB's birthday!), our Thai friend Satha called to make sure we had made it back safely to Bangkok. When JB told him about my ear and asked about where to take me to see a doctor, we were so excited to learn that Satha and his girlfriend Nok are friends with an Eye, Ear, Nose, and Throat doctor. What luck!! They told us where to go and even phoned ahead to tell their friend that we were coming.
I have to say, I was very impressed with the quality of healthcare that I received. At the hospital we filled out a form and were immediately escorted up to the waiting room. Within five minutes the doctor saw me. He spoke excellent English. He checked in my ears, told me that I had a swollen ear drum, and instructed me to continue taking the antibiotic ear drops that I had bought at a pharmacy and also to take oral antibiotics, which they would give me right there at the hospital. The most shocking part of the experience was at the cashier's desk. We were charged a total of 240 bahts--the equivalent of about 7 USD!!! The doctor had not charged us at all, and the 240 bahts covered the nurse's fee, hospital fee, AND my antibiotics. We had come totally prepared to use our travel insurance, but who needs to file a claim on a seven dollar hospital visit?? With the $3 taxi fee coming and going, our total bill for the trip to the doctor ended up being $13. You can't beat that in the US! I am now ear infection free and forever grateful to Dr. Wichai and his kindness and help!