Brazil: Rio de Janeiro, Hortolandia, Campinas.
The Caribbean: Cuba (Guantanamo Bay); the U.S. Virgin Islands (St. Thomas, St. John, St. Croix).
Sunday, October 28, 2007
Saturday, October 27, 2007
Travel or Places I've visited...
I've been to a lot of places in my life. I was reminded of this when Ellen's sister took a Mediterranean cruise recently and regaled us with the places she visited.
I took a six month Mediterranean cruise once (a long time ago) and it didn't cost me a dime. I visited Gibralter, the French Riviera, Spain (Barcelona), Italy (Livorno, Rome, Pisa, Pompei, Mt. Vesuvius), Sicily, Greece and the Greek Islands in the Aegean Sea. While sailing in the Med. we managed to wander into a NATO naval live fire zone and shells were dropping out of the sky near us. During the Atlantic crossing (which took 21 days) my ship hid from a storm behind the island of Madeira (off the west coast of Africa) ... A friend and I rented a paddle boat at the beach on the Riviera, bought some beer and paddled back out to the ship (one mile) and drank our beer while the sailors still on duty watched us with envy and called us all sorts of disparaging names (they were just jealous)...it was all a great adventure.
Later, during my work career I visited Puerto Rico, Mexico, Canada, Penang Malaysia, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Great Britain (multiple times), France (multiple times) and Germany.
Ellen and I have been to London, Barcelona and the Baleric Islands (off the cost of Spain in the Med.) a couple of times, and we spent time in Rome on our 25th wedding anniversary. Our most recent trip was a week in Paris a couple of years ago to attend the Paris Air Show. We took a side trip to Normandy to visit the cemetery and Omaha Beach. We also managed to have dinner in the Eiffel tower, a sunset cruise on the Seine and a cabaret show at the Moulon Rouge.
Pretty boring stuff huh!
The reality is that I've met many people from different countries and they're, for the most part, just like us. They want to live in peace, feed their families, work at a decent job and be safe.
When Ellen and I lived near Rochester, NY for a couple of years, a couple of years ago, we met and helped a refugee Afgan family. A mother (father died in Afganistan), 14 year old daughter, 12 year old son and two smaller daughters about 7 and 10 if I remember right. The children spoke english but the mother spoke none. The 14 year old handled the financial stuff for the mother as well as the interpreting. They came to this country through the auspices of Catholic Charities but were sponsored by Saints Place, a volunteer group from our church whose mission was to help outfit and support new refugees no matter where they came from. They left all their local familiarity and friends behind because the mother wanted to get her children away from the dangers and have a better life. We found out later that she left a married 16 year old daughter as well as two older sons behind because she thought, if she had too big a family she would not be able to get the younger children out of country. Her sons have now joined her after proving, through DNA analysis, that they are hers. Not so easy is it.
We take a lot for granted living in the US as we do. I can tell you from personal experience that this is the greatest country on this earth. People clammer to come here and join us and leave their misery behind. The current radicals that want to tear us down will not succeed. Sure, they'll disrupt our travel plans from time to time; they'll cause misery and danger in places around the world but they will not overcome us. They're a minority in the larger scheme of things and we should crush them like the bugs they are.
I've got to go now and hang out my flag!!!
I took a six month Mediterranean cruise once (a long time ago) and it didn't cost me a dime. I visited Gibralter, the French Riviera, Spain (Barcelona), Italy (Livorno, Rome, Pisa, Pompei, Mt. Vesuvius), Sicily, Greece and the Greek Islands in the Aegean Sea. While sailing in the Med. we managed to wander into a NATO naval live fire zone and shells were dropping out of the sky near us. During the Atlantic crossing (which took 21 days) my ship hid from a storm behind the island of Madeira (off the west coast of Africa) ... A friend and I rented a paddle boat at the beach on the Riviera, bought some beer and paddled back out to the ship (one mile) and drank our beer while the sailors still on duty watched us with envy and called us all sorts of disparaging names (they were just jealous)...it was all a great adventure.
Later, during my work career I visited Puerto Rico, Mexico, Canada, Penang Malaysia, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Great Britain (multiple times), France (multiple times) and Germany.
Ellen and I have been to London, Barcelona and the Baleric Islands (off the cost of Spain in the Med.) a couple of times, and we spent time in Rome on our 25th wedding anniversary. Our most recent trip was a week in Paris a couple of years ago to attend the Paris Air Show. We took a side trip to Normandy to visit the cemetery and Omaha Beach. We also managed to have dinner in the Eiffel tower, a sunset cruise on the Seine and a cabaret show at the Moulon Rouge.
Pretty boring stuff huh!
The reality is that I've met many people from different countries and they're, for the most part, just like us. They want to live in peace, feed their families, work at a decent job and be safe.
When Ellen and I lived near Rochester, NY for a couple of years, a couple of years ago, we met and helped a refugee Afgan family. A mother (father died in Afganistan), 14 year old daughter, 12 year old son and two smaller daughters about 7 and 10 if I remember right. The children spoke english but the mother spoke none. The 14 year old handled the financial stuff for the mother as well as the interpreting. They came to this country through the auspices of Catholic Charities but were sponsored by Saints Place, a volunteer group from our church whose mission was to help outfit and support new refugees no matter where they came from. They left all their local familiarity and friends behind because the mother wanted to get her children away from the dangers and have a better life. We found out later that she left a married 16 year old daughter as well as two older sons behind because she thought, if she had too big a family she would not be able to get the younger children out of country. Her sons have now joined her after proving, through DNA analysis, that they are hers. Not so easy is it.
We take a lot for granted living in the US as we do. I can tell you from personal experience that this is the greatest country on this earth. People clammer to come here and join us and leave their misery behind. The current radicals that want to tear us down will not succeed. Sure, they'll disrupt our travel plans from time to time; they'll cause misery and danger in places around the world but they will not overcome us. They're a minority in the larger scheme of things and we should crush them like the bugs they are.
I've got to go now and hang out my flag!!!
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