05 Tuesday Mar 2013
“Shambles” is much too nice of a word to describe our apartment — or our lives, for that matter — as we remove our worldly goods from closets and shelves and box them up for sale and storage. In a two-minute video, Louise conducts a tour of our Portland apartment — or what’s left of it — 25 days before we begin the expat life.
27 Wednesday Feb 2013
Posted in Sentiments, Travel
“Won’t you get tired of good weather all the time?” That was my friend Doyle, an Oregon native like me – and like me, a man of webbed feet and hooded raincoats.
22 Friday Feb 2013
Every evening Louise puts her loose change in the bank pictured above, a gift from her son Ted when they were going through a “Pinky and the Brain” phase in 1993. Along with my loose change (I use a classy a wicker basket), we had amassed what we called the “Round the World Fund.” Today, 36 days from departure and after a combined ten years of collecting pocket change, it was time to cash in. We anticipated thousands. What a great way to hit the road!
18 Monday Feb 2013
Posted in Accommodations, Travel
Tags
At last I have something in common with the great novelist Ann Beattie: an insatiable need for free boxes. She too is moving, and writes in the February 17th New York Times: “Boxes are much on the itinerant person’s mind. I brood about lost boxes, boxes I received via UPS — those Zappos boots! — that I stupidly took to the recycling center.”
11 Monday Feb 2013
Posted in Accommodations, Travel
Tags
I mentioned, in my delirious tag sale entry, that we will spend our last ten days in Portland at a friend’s apartment….a crucial piece of the departure puzzle.
06 Wednesday Feb 2013
While Louise and I dance on the rim of sanity, impatiently contemplating our departure 52 days from now, a brief diversion…
30 Wednesday Jan 2013
Posted in Sentiments, Travel
Sixty days to liftoff!
Yes, it’s exciting, but I’ll admit I have had more nightmares about liquidation than I have had happy dreams about Europe. In my head, the issues involved in getting rid of stuff looked like…you know when your earbuds get all tangled up in your pocket and they won’t unknot?…like that.
29 Tuesday Jan 2013
Posted in Sentiments, Travel
If you could see me now, you’d know that I’m staring at my feet as they draw bashful circles in the dust, basking in the flattery that is The Versatile Blogger Award. We were nominated for it yesterday by those maharishis of travel blogging (36 years!), James and Terri Vance of gallivance.net (who have also received the award). Thank you James and Terri!
13 Sunday Jan 2013
Posted in Accommodations, Travel
(We’re gonna hear from the bloggers about this…)
Hooray!!! We bought the plane tickets to Barcelona yesterday. They are one way! That is SO exciting!
31 Monday Dec 2012
Posted in Travel
Tags
We had a chance to go to a Rick Steves lecture the other night, though lecture is way too stuffy a word for it. The celebrated travel journalist, broadcaster, and entrepreneur actually has a bit of a stand-up routine that he brings around: part advice, part humor, and part low-pressure sales pitch for his tours and travel products. Rick was in jeans and a sport coat, standing taller than we expected, blondish hair going silvery, and much funnier than one would imagine.
The Expat Almanac 