It's Been A Long Year

In some ways, this has been a fantastic year.  And in other ways, it has been a most challenging year.  Since April of 2023, I have had two major surgeries on both hips to repair torn tendons.  Each surgery requiring 6-8 months of recovery.  That's the challenging part.  The fantastic part is that I'm almost done with the recovery from the second surgery and for the first time in almost a decade, I can walk pain free.

I had the surgery right after we returned from Italy last year.  And I basically lived in this recliner until the end of 2023.  

But this chapter of our lives is almost over and our next adventure awaits.  And, what an adventure this is going to be.

Have We Lost Our Minds?

It's March 2024 as I'm writing this and I'm already 6 months into the planning of our biggest and longest excursion of our lives.  Well, unless you want to count Westpac cruises in the Navy.  But Sonja wasn't able to enjoy living with a few thousand sailors in the middle of the ocean for many, many months.  You take one of those cruises and you learn things about other people that you should never know.  I'll just leave it there.

Back to the trip...

In November, we are taking off for almost 3 months to Indochina (Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, Malaysia) with detours to Sri Lanka and India.   Yes, that's a mouthful.  We've been to Thailand and Vietnam before and have always wanted to return to that part of the world.  And at this time in our lives, we are fortunate enough to pull this off.

This trip came about because of my desire to see Angkor Wat.  It has always fascinated me.  An entire city hidden for hundreds of years in the jungles of Cambodia.  A truly bucket list item.  If you've read any of my blogs, you know that on each trip I try to surprise Sonja with an unexpected activity or place.  But, she has recently told me that although she loves the surprises, she would rather be given the opportunity to prepare for it rather than have it sprung upon her.  And that is how I came to tell her that her surprise this trip was going to be the Taj Mahal.  Trust me, sitting at our kitchen table the reaction wasn't quite the same as telling her at the moment.  Ah, what the heck.  We're still checking off a second bucket list item in one trip.

New & Exciting Places (and one ol' blast from the past)

Our plans are to travel to 7 countries.  Malaysia, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Sri Lanka, India and the Philippines.  And for a few days, we'll hang out in my old stomping grounds in the Philippines, Olongapo City.  Been about 50 years since I was young sailor in the Navy at the base in Subic Bay (which is no longer there).  I'm sure some memories of my time at the library and singing in the church choir will come back to me.

The planning and preparation for a trip of this magnitude is overwhelming.  But it's fascinating as well.  The more we dig into it, the more we're excited to go.

Chloe, Abby, JJ....  Grandma and Papa are going to have one heckuva time and we'll come back with some amazing stories and maybe a little candy or two for you.  ;-)