You Pearler… 30 years with the Travel and Strife and time to look back and forward.
Our journey, in truth, started four years earlier in Herself’s Homestead, the Royal County of Berkshire.
With our first pitstop a city which for that reason, and its own, will always be magical to us, Amsterdam.
Off the beaten track
Twenty-five years spanned our visits to the pride of the Netherlands and we ditched the ubiquitous bikes along the way.
We had taken the road less travelled on our first trip, going to Edam on its half day.
And then taking the wrong fork on the road back to Amsterdam.
We took a different tack when we were invited out to the Dylan.
And so it was canal boats and the luxury of the hotel George and Amal frequent in theirs, and now our, visits to Holland.
Wear slip-on shoes
We all form attachments to those countries and cities we first go to as children and couples.
And Portugal holds a special place too in our hearts despite another cycling mishap in the Algarve.
But one we got to put right in Portugal Centro years later under the guidance of our own Special One Jose Madomis.
Malta would follow when in an unguarded moment I bent down at dinner to tie up my shoelace and she screamed ‘Yes’.
The Scot in me, I went back years later on my own to see if I could redeem on the bottle of Champagne we didn’t finish…
And so Corfu followed for our honeymoon when the handsome Greek waiter was most attentive to our table.
And my bride was blushing when it transpired he was eyeing me up.
On our Travails
We made the most of those intimate moments then, knowing holidays would never be the same when Him and Her came along.
And waited until we could take off again together, to the Soll slopes in Austria.
That road trip around Portugal Centro.
To George and Amal’s gaffe in Amsterdam.
And up the fjords of Norway and around the Rieperbahn of Hamburg.
Still stumbling along the way and trying to get back on track.
And all the time still following Her lead.
Even when that meant us getting on the bus to Berlin instead of Keil.
The Mother of all Dragons
Or turning up in Monaghan a weekend early and turning that Irish Midlands town upside down.
There have been travails aplenty and pleasures like poppy seeds in Rome and Venice and travels to come.
With an anniversary Loveholidays trip to Dubrovnik to come next month with my very own Mother of Dragons.
Just another marker in 30 years with the Travel and Strife.
Bring on the next 30.
MEET YOU ON THE ROAD
1 thought on “30 years with the Travel and Strife”