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Heading for Spain with adult sons for Dad's birthday |
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Exploring Madrid |
BIRTHDAYS ABROAD--As a travel writer early in my
career, I’ve enjoyed group and solo travel from the New Hebrides to a breakfast
Concorde flight from London to lunch in Bahrain and back in England time for
tea the same day. But even with all
those years of travel under my belt, the most satisfying travel adventure began
a year ago when my wife asked if I had any ideas for my birthday.
I replied
it would be nice to get our two (adult) sons together and make a guys day out
of it.
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Three blind mice in front of the King's Palace in Madrid |
A few days
later, she came back with a plan. She
had crunched the family fiscal books and decided a mega trip was in order. Two weeks in Europe with Zac and Mike. The
kicker was she had to go along for the ride and we would spend a third week in
England—just the two of us.
With six
months of pre-planning, we were able to take advantage of a lot of travel
bargains. And, to make sure I had
everyone in attendance, we footed the bill for the trip. Zac could only spare eight days and Mike hung
in there for two weeks.
We found a
no interest credit card that was good in Europe and we paid it off in a year
(this month).
We traveled
from San Diego to Madrid and then hopped trains to Barcelona, Paris, Brussels
and to London, where we caught British Airways home. I’ve always wanted to land in San Diego
aboard the Brit 777 and we did.
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Zac's heading into his compartment to get ready for his birthday dinner aboard the Elipsos Tren |
One high
light of the trip was taking the Elipsos overnight train from Barcelona to
Paris. One year ago today, we
celebrated, Zac’s birthday. Toasting our
son’s birthday on the rails in Europe will always be remembered. The Elipsos stopped running soon after our
trip as the venerable train gave way to the high-speed version. No more white gloved dinner service and the
clacking of the rails while you fell asleep in the small compartment.
Time spent
with the boys was a terrific way to bond.
The investment was in family joy and being able to share an extended
time together beyond a couple of days at Christmas. And, we’re still talking about it.
The next
trip will be with our two grandson’s.
We’re probably going back to Spain, Southern France then to Italy and
Germany. It’ll be an adventure and why
not—that’s what birthdays are for.
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Dinner aboard the late great Elipsos Tren Hotel on April 4. somewhere between Barcelona and Paris |
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Breakfast along Rue Cler in Paris |
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Dad and sons had dinner at Les Deux Magots restaurant in Paris |
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