In a few weeks time, I will be going abroad once again. Chris will be attending a conference in Madrid, and then we will travel together to Portugal. After I got laid off in February, I extended my travels on either side of his conference, which means I’ll be out and about for a total…
Should a 13-year-old be allowed to sail around the world by him or herself? That was the question posed on yesterday’s “World Have Your Say” on BBC Radio. Laura Dekker, 13, wants to do a solo voyage around the world, but The Dutch Council for Child Protection has asked a court to intervene in order…
I’m having a difficult time adjusting to Eastern Standard Time again. Yesterday, I fell alseep watching TV at 11 a.m. and again at 8 p.m. Then I woke up this morning well before the sun rose, but it gave me time to put together the following memories from the trip. Here are a few things that…
I got a kick from watching videos from other Competitours teams. Here are some of my favorites from the trip: Day 1:Sean is clearly a skilled impersonator. He adopted a few other voices during the course of the trip, too. Way to pull out “Little Town” from the music cache. It really does exemplify this…
Say what you will, but here are some our our personal favorite videos from our Competitours’ adventure. Day 2, Salzburg, Austria:Part of the movie “Sound of Music” — specifically the song ’16 Going On Seventeen’ — was filmed at the Baroque Gazebo at Hellbrunn Palace. One of the challenges there was to conjure up and…
On Thursday morning, the scoreboard reflected what Sheila and I already suspected. We finished second in the race across Europe with Competitours. But “As Seen on TV” (Lanthy and Rad) brought their A-game and it paid off. We’re very happy for them. “We fell short of first place by 21 points, but in our minds…
I can’t believe this is the last day of our trip to Europe. It’s flown by. To recap, we’ve been to Switzerland, Austria, Germany, The Netherlands, Belgium and the long lost country of Moresnet. In Day 7, we slipped to second place, but the challengers, “As Seen on TV” are only 10 points ahead of…
After 6 days of being on our own and occasionally running into other teams, Day 7 was the four-country, all-inclusive team challenge. We didn’t need to record any videos; instead, we were pitted against all the other teams in several objective challenges. When Steve, our “tour dude,” asked if we knew what four countries we…
The incredible scenery along the Rhine River is idyllic to most people. The rolling hills. Hill-top castles overlooking the lush Rhine River Valley. But returning to Koblenz after 18 years memories long buried. Well, not really. On my first trip abroad, those many years ago, Chris and I floated down this very section of the…
Spontaneity is our middle name. That was the theme today. We changed our plan at a moment’s notice. Originally we planned to do challenges at the Nymphenburg Castle (where the German Hugh Hefner once lived) and a bike tour of the city. By morning, everything had changed totally. We opted to join the group heading…
