Happy New Year from the 2020 Departure Lounge

Happy New Year to all my friends, family, and followers! I send you all the happiest, healthiest best wishes for the coming year, as well as the coming decade! What a fast and furious time to be alive. But the promise of a new decade in the year 2020 feels like a great step toward restoring some balance to our lives. As a Libra who needs everything to balance, I can’t think of a better year to offer the promise of hope than “2020!”

Poor blog is still lagging behind. I had hopes of getting it caught up in real time by the end of year, but due to some recent technical difficulties whereby I couldn’t post any photos, I failed in that attempt. I had one more PT post to make on “Fall Festivities,” including the 20th Annual Film Festival, and the 38th Great PT Bay Kinetic Sculpture Race. I am also eager to share the photos from my “Medicare Milestone” celebration, whereby I treated myself to a train ride across Canada in celebration of my 65th birthday. But alas, those will have to wait for now, as I am about to embark on a more remote adventure.

One sobering aspect of my Portugal trip was the realization that international travel is not as easy for me now at 65 as it was at 48 when I set off to backpack around the globe on the heels of 9/11. I move much slower now, struggle to lift the heavy backpack on my shoulders, and don’t rebound from jet lag as rapidly as I did twenty years ago. Couple that with the fact that I have several friends who received an unfavorable diagnosis this past year, along with AARP and Medicare status which can force one to face their own mortality, and I decided I’d better pull some of the more challenging trips out of the “bucket” sooner than later.

So this post comes to you from the departure lounge in route to Khartoum, Sudan. I will be joining a 30 day overland trek through Sudan and Ethiopia. Since overlanding through Africa and the Middle East in 2002, I have wanted to take another overland journey. And if I am sorting through the bucket for more challenging places on the list, well, I figure it won’t get much more challenging than that. 😉 Best go now, while I can still climb in and out of the truck!

“Why Ethiopia?” some may ask. It dates back to my years living in Atlanta when the Border’s Bookstore was going out of business. All travel guides were 50% off. The only one left on the shelf to a destination not yet visited was Bradt’s Travel Guide to Ethiopia. So I bought it. After reading sections of the book, I found the history, culture, and attractions of the country to be fascinating, and vowed to go there one day.

I will post photos when I can, but internet access will likely be sketchy at best. I am behind in my correspondence from a busy holiday with family, so if I owe you an email, please understand the reason for the delay.  I will aspire to get caught up one day soon…But for now, I will be ringing in the New Year somewhere over the Atlantic Ocean, making a toast with whatever libation is on offer to my friends and followers.  Here’s to the promise of a new year, a new decade, and a new chapter. Thanks for coming along for the ride!

Suzanne

PLEASE NOTE:  The comment section of the blog is now malfunctioning.  New day, New Glitch.  If you attempt to comment and get the response “Access Denied,” please do not think I have blocked you!  It is a malfunction of the blog, one that I will not likely be able to fix anytime soon.  Sorry for the inconvenience.

15 thoughts on “Happy New Year from the 2020 Departure Lounge

  1. Wow… you’re doing it! What a spectacular way to start the new year! I’ll be thinking about you and looking forward to hearing all about it.

  2. Happy New Year ! I admire your spirit. Have a safe and wonderful trip. I’m looking forward to hearing all about it whenever you post.

  3. Travel safe, Suzanne, and I’ll look forward to reading whatever you get posted whenever. I have a good friend who did the Peace Corps in Ethiopia and he has wonderful memories and wonderful photos. He loved the country and the people.

  4. Stupid computers but hey, at least it allows us to stay in touch. Looking forward to catching up with you and although it is now February that your overland trip was a HUGE success

  5. I just found your blog and it is so full of information about Mexico! My wife and I are living in San Luis Potosi for a few months, doing research but planning on some trips around the area. Your posts about Huasteca Potosina especially appreciated. But also love your stories and photos from Guanajuato. We’ve got to take a cooking class!
    Your writing and photos are so much fun. Good luck with your travels this year!

    • Thank you, Timothy, for such a nice comment! Mexico is truly a magical place, isn’t it? Glad to know you enjoyed the posts. I really enjoyed that whole Huasteca Potosina area so much! Good luck to you as well, and thanks for following along.

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