Kenya Day Two Part Two -- Finally there

The trip on SafariLink airline was thankfully short.  The plane seated 13 and only had a nose propeller.  It was sufficiently cloudy today so as to create the precise type of bumpy air I seek to avoid.  Thankfully I was the first stop of three at Nanyuki airstrip, which was the proverbial patchy of rocky ground in a cleared area.  The others on the flight were somewhat uptight that they weren't getting off here either.  Apparently they enjoyed the flight less than I did. I was both mildly amused and alarmed by sitting behind the pilot and co-pilot and watch them grapple with plugging the airstrip coordinates into the GPS.  Each thought they knew better and neither knew they shouldn't be texting while driving.  Meanwhile, a plane full of back seat drivers looked on...

I was greeted by a guide and driver...I wish I had a knack for names, but right now I just don't remember.  They drove me the 20 minutes to the gate to Ol Pejeta Conservancy.  On the way, we crossed the equator twice, once to go north and then to go south again, I mean really, how many people can say they crossed the equator twice in one day?  As I'm impressed by those sorts of things, I already considered today a banner day.  At the gate to Ol Pejeta, they checked me in for the next three nights.

The whole concept of the conservancy is the preservation of the wildlife, and in this case, more specifically, the rhino.  There are 105 rhinos in Ol Pejeta itself, which is a good chunk of the total rhinos left in Africa.  Ol Pejeta has electric fence around it, which is solely for the benefit of the rhinos.  There are passageways for animals other than rhinos to come and go as they please, but the rhinos are closely looked after.  There are armed guards here to protect them from poachers and a head count is taken every morning and night to ensure that they are all accounted for.  The particular species here are mostly white rhino (white is not the color, but rather the mispronunciation of "wide" for their wide mouths, as opposed to the hooked lip of the black rhino).  Seven (I think) black rhinos are here, some of which came from a Czech zoo in order to encourage them to procreate here, either with each other or a similar strain of white rhino, in order to prevent them from going extinct entirely.  So it's down to these seven.  But no pressure there, kids.

The Porini Rhino camp, where I'm staying was clear across the conservancy in the western side.  We entered on the eastern most side, so it took about 90 minutes to traverse.  Right out of the gate, an impala and Grant's gazelle stood impressively on the horizon, sort of daring me to start taking photos, which of course I did.  Right after that we happened upon five Cape buffalo giving us that inquisitive "what are you looking at?" face that I've come to love.  But they were right next to my third equator sign of the day, so yes, I did cross over it three times today.

One peculiarity we saw along the way was a stillbuck, which seems a bit bigger than a dik dik (very small antelope).  I took a few shots of him and he looked odd, then when I played my photos back, I noticed he was missing an ear!  I've seen other antelopes missing horns, but an ear is a first.  Poor guy.

There are six tents here and I'm in #3, which from my bed and the front porch, has an expansive view across the area.  I'm about a minute's walk from the mess tent and other people, which is sort of nice (remind me of that at 3:00 a.m. when I'm wigging the hell out here by myself!)  The room has a queen and a single bed.  It is quite obviously a tent but furnished more like a hotel room.  The shower is on wooden platform, not the plastic grass like in Tanzania.  The toilet is as well.  There is running water for the sink (no more pitchers of water there) but still the bucket shower.  Oh how I already miss the waterfall shower from the Eka!

I was met by Harry and Fernandes, the guys who manage the camp.  After a nice drink of juice and a chat, they walked me to my tent and I set up shop here.  Lunch was served right after that.  There are Canadian two families staying here, each with some young teen kids.  I think by the sounds of it they've all been in one vehicle for their stay here and my arrival will require a second for this afternoon's game ride, which is fine by me.  They are leaving tomorrow.  I'm wondering if I'll be here on my own after that?!?

Lunch was really good, as I expected.  There was a cold celery soup, and then a cold buffet of vegetarian pizza, a carrot and cucmber sliced salad, chicken with sundried tomatoes and rice.  A slice of lemon meringue pie ended the meal.  So off to a very good start in the food department.

So now I'm passing time until  the afternoon game ride.  Catching up on the blog and just listening to the sounds around me.  I honestly cannot believe I'm here!

The afternoon game ride didn't really get off the ground until about 4:45 everyone getting their acts together.  I shared a vehicle with all the adults of the Canadian party, and we sent the five teens off with two other Porini employees in a separate jeep.  God love them. However, I did say out loud that that would almost assure that the one of the two would see lions, how right I was.

The game ride was pretty standard, but for the three rounds of torrential rain that passed over us, causing us to zip up one side of the vehicle as well as don flannel lined rubber rain ponchos.  Yes, I kid you not, I'm on the equator and bundling up.  Granted, it's not the 10 below of snowy Boston but it is like an early May damp day at home.

Of note was a pair of eland, which I think we only saw from a distance in Tanzania.  These are massive elk-like antelopes, very impressive.  We then saw a warthog poking its head up out of a hole, and as we got closer, she jumped out, followed by four of her piglets...a clown car of a warthog hole, it seems.

I learned a Grant's gazelle is similar to the other gazelle types but notable for the white on its behind that goes up over the top of the tail.  Now if only I could tell a Thomson's from an impala...again.

As the rain began to beat down, we found five ostriches playing in it and a hyena lying with its head on its paws. about as happy looking as I am after a soggy morning commute.

At one dry point, we stopped to admire about 10 hartebeests, known for the heart-shape its horns seems to take.  They seemed to take a keen interest in us, or did they.  They stood and stared, and we chalked it up to their being inquisitive beasts and moved on.  Since the Canadian folks were only here two days, they really had their heart set on lions and it seemed as it got darker we wouldn't pull that off.  And then Benjamin's, the guide, cell phone rang.  The vehicle with all the kids had two lions in their sights and were having a great time, right about the spot where we'd just left the hartebeests about 20 minutes before.  So backtrack we did, and at this point it was well past sunset and overcast to boot, so we had trouble finding their vehicle and were tearing through thorny acacia plant (I have laceration on my skull to prove it) as if we were on the most important mission in the world.  But ultimately, we came across two brothers who were just out of the juvenile stage judging by how short their manes were.  One appeared to be limping but it was so dark at that point we could barely seem them, let alone that level of detail.  One of the kids said that it had a slice on its back leg.  Oddly, that was the fatter of the two brothers, so either he was still a fairly good hunter or his brother took care of him to his own detriment.

The brothers posed for us for only a short time before they moved off into the thick brush.  Not to be outdone, we followed, and managed to find them tearing into a kill (not before passing a jackal running off with the victim's head and neck, a small impala it seemed).  The lame brother (and I mean that in terms of ability to move not tendency to eat everything before his brother) was tearing into the kill to such an extent that we could hear bone crunching.  Very impressive.  It was much too dark now, but I pushed my ISO up to 1600 and prayed for at least one good photo.  Still, it was an experience I'd not had before.  As a jackal and his own brother stood nearby, this lion had his fill and moved on.  The pair moved a short bit off and we followed yet again, pulling up about 30 feet away and using a red-filtered spotlight to see longer in the non-existent daylight.  Finally we moved on, but not before spooking them a bit first.

The return to camp was tedious given how muddy the roads were.  We ended up riding off road parallel to the main road for quite a bit which slowed things down but not nearly as much as pushing through the muck or getting stuck.  Benjamin used the red light a lot of the way and pointed out an eagle in a tree, some herds of impala and zebra, and bush babies, which are like small primates, but I still can't see what they saw.

I'm wishy washy on the game ride after dark.  It's not done in Tanzania and I didn't get a lot out of the one we did tonight.  Had we not found those lions before sunset, I doubt we would have at all.  I'll have to see if it's any better when it's less rainy and damp, admittedly factors in how good the experience is.

Dinner tonight was excellent as usual.  We had a cup of hot chocolate around the fire first, then pea soup (yes, Mom, you read that right) that was pretty tasty.  The main course was a very tender teriyaki steak and green beans, sweet potato and mashed potato which I think was mashed with coconut milk, it was delicious.  Dessert was a small cone like a canoli filled with a sweet cream.  All in all just perfect to end the day.

Here, unlike in Tanzania, they will fill the showers after dinner, so I took a nice hot shower and climbed right into bed, which the prepared with a hot water bottle with the turn down service.  I could get used to this!

Laying here now listening to all the night sounds, which so far are mostly frogs and birds by the sounds of it.  I wonder if our no-longer-hungry lions will talk tonight.

Kenya Day Two -- Getting Out of Nairobi

Tuesday, February 18

Slept like a log and was up and at 'em when the alarm went off.  This hotel has waterfall showers, which, as some may know, is one of my most favoritest things ever.  To go from this to a bush shower in mere hours will be a shock to the system, among other things.

After my last non-bush shower and a quick pack up, I hit the breakfast room.  It was a tremendous buffet of mostly Western (agreeable to US and UK folks) foods.  I had the chef whip me up an omelet, put that with fresh pineapple and a couple of pastries and indulged in the delicious Kenyan coffee.  Oh how I miss that!

My hotel, the Eka, backed up on to the perimeter of the Nairobi National Park, which also abuts Nairobi city center.  So if you were to go inside it for a game ride, chances are you'd see any one of the Big Five (except elephant) with the skyscrapers of the city in the background.  Just odd to me that wildlife manages to coexist with the city environment.

Oliver from Gamewatchers picked me up at 7:30 for my 10:20 flight to Nanyuki, despite the airstrip being not more than 2k from the hotel.  But traffic here is notoriously bad and this morning was no different.  There are no Nairobi natives, so to speak, so everyone who works here is driving in and out together, which creates chaos on the roads.  Oliver asked if I minded "rough roads" and took me on an all mud ring road that was being built to ease congestion on the main Mombassa Road.  So it took about 40 minutes to make it to the airstrip where now I sit and wait.

I'm allowed 31 pounds of luggage on these mini planes and somehow managed to be 6 over.  I did some shopping in the gift shop at the hotel this morning, figuring I wouldn't see another shop for a while.  That couldn't have put me over, but after chastising me, they let me through.

I've just managed my first mosquito bite of the trip.  I lightly applied repellant this morning figuring I wouldn't be out in the wild until lunchtime.  Apparently that's not the case.

A comment on security here, as I know folks are wondering and/or concerned.  Security is ever-present.  My hotel was behind a locked gate and guards swept the vehicle and me on my way in.  Same thing here at the airstrip.  I'm told that they do the same going back into Nairobi airport.  I guess it is for good measure, but it is disconcerting to see armed police just about everywhere.  I'll be happy to be where my biggest threat is a lion.  Ha!

So, going off the grid until next Wed/Thurs.  I'll be writing all the way though and will post updates as soon as I am connected again.

Kenya Day One -- The Getting There

Monday, February 17

After sweating it out on Saturday with a dusting of snow that was predicted to be 10-12 but ended up being only 3, I was up and out for my 630pm flight.  Thankfully for snowstorms we managed to make it to Amsterdam in a little over 6 hours, which was pretty quick.  Too quick to sleep with any substance.

A very quick 2 hour layover at Schipohl passed with a flash and off I went on KLM to Nairobi.  The Economy Comfort on this plane was great, about 10 rows 3x2 in its own separate little cabin.  Extremely comfortable and a very smooth flight down, 7 hours and 20 minutes.  It seems as though they did nothing but feed us.  Started with a snack of almonds, then lunch of vegetarian gemelli, then an ice cream snack, then a calzone with pasta salad.  I only managed to watch two movies, I dozed for a lot of it and it went by quicker thank I expected, thankfully.

I'm looking forward getting to Nairobi and getting settled in.  And tomorrow off to the bush!

Arrivals at Nairobi were chaotic...understatement of the year.  Since the fire in August that destroyed the arrivals terminal, they retrofitted a parking garage for customs, immigration and baggage claim.  It is exactly what you're picturing, I suspect.

I stood in line for the visa.  Despite my conscientiously filling out the visa form, as usual all they really cared about was the $50 fee as they hardly read the form.  I then went and exchanged $580 for 48,000 shillings, which makes me feel rich for about 10 seconds.  With my three inch wad of bills, I then made my way to the baggage carousel where I stared at the same 50 bags for an hour.  Staff had been yanking bags off and piling them up seemingly indescriminantly.  Finally I realized my bag was in a pile behind the carousel.  How I was supposed to find it is beyond me.

I grabbed my bag and met my Gamewatchers rep outside.  A Kenyan club football team had just returned from a victorious away game, so it was more chaos still outside in the parking lot.  We made our way about 10 minutes to the Eka Hotel, where I settled in for the night.  The bed was hard but it didn't stop me from sleeping, thank you Ambien.  I cannot believe I'm here and this is all happening again.

Nearly there!

Well, I'm just about into single digits now.  The snowstorm panic is in full bloom.  We're in a particularly stormy pattern the next week or so, and all I can do is hold my breath and hope that I can squeeze in my pre-trip haircut and on time departure.

It should come as no surprise if you've read this blog at all for past trips that I'm essentially packed,  with piles of clothes and miscellaneous stuff all over the upstairs. I'm waiting for new mosquito repellant to arrive and then get my cash, yes I'm that ready. I'll fetch my duffle from storage and pack and go.  It's a great feeling.

Yet I've gone through the usual homesickness before I even leave, feeling more of a homebody and missing home despite sitting right here.  It's a strange feeling, wanting to go but feeling the ties to home so much more strongly than if I was not going anywhere.

But in the back of my mind I'm so looking forward to being warm, seeing the wildlife, the landscape and meeting new people, that that is what is carrying me.

I'll be thee soon enough....

Safari closer still

I'm now about five weeks out from safari.  As I mentioned before, there isn't much to do but wait once it's all booked.  I have managed to get a few chores done as I wait though.  I visited the travel clinic again and got my yellow fever vaccine and the anti-malarial prescriptions as well as a prescription for Cipro, for all the intestinal bugs that might ail me.  I'll renew prescriptions for things like vomiting and insomnia due to jet lag and the pharmacopeia will be replenished.

I'll admit that the increase in violence  in Kenya is somewhat unsettling but as the advisories for travelers haven't really changed I'm going to keep plans but keep aware.

I've started my packing pile in the back bedroom, with my carryon and the new convertible pants and fleece that I bought new for this trip.  My first camp is at the base of Mt Kenya and is allegedly cold early and late day even at the height of summer on the equator.  I guess cold is relative given that it will be literally sub zero when I leave Boston, most likely.  I've started to eye movies to download to watch on the plane and I'm debating whether to take my new iPad instead of my iPod and mini PC...trying to minimize and travel lighter...  At some point soon I will start to cull the cosmetics needs and place an order with minimus.biz to round out my packing.

I know I shouldn't be wishing this all away, but now that I know what awaits me, it's almost worse than last year.  I'm waiting to see it all again, the big cats, the preyed upon, the gorgeous sunsets, the white fluffs of cloud that hang over miles of flat nothingness, the warmth of Africa's beauty and sunshine...it's almost too much to imagine, but it'll be here soon enough.

Travel Year in Review: 2013

January
Brooklyn, NY
Atlantic City, NJ
Reading, PA
Port Chester, NY

February
Tanzania, Africa

March
Los Angeles, CA
San Francisco, CA
Chicago, IL

April
New York, NY

May
Los Angeles, CA

July
New York, NY
Washington, DC

September/October
Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, San Diego, CA

November
New York, NY

Which came out to:
42,342 miles traveled (3,295 by car, 39,046 by air) across eight states, three countries, two coasts and three continents
72 museum exhibitions
5 Morrissey shows
7 other shows (plus a few we had tickets to and bailed on)

For a travelholic, 2013 proved to be a stellar year, with a bumper crop of trips I hardly expected last year at this time.  Not all of them got airtime on the blog, mainly because they were concert-related without much sightseeing or real enjoyment other than the shows themselves.  But it’s still worth looking back to see where I’ve been and savoring every moment, again.

Our first road trip of the year found us winging our way down to Brooklyn, NY for a Morrissey show at Brooklyn Academy of Music.  We were blessed with just perfect driving weather (indeed, we’d be just as blessed every weekend we drove out of state, which is a near miracle in New England winters!) and made it to Brooklyn to check in and head right out to Brooklyn Museum of Art, which was wonderful.  We’d seen some of its collection in other shows (notably, the Monet exhibition in Paris in 2010) but it’s always nice to revisit old friends.  Morrissey’s Brooklyn show was mentioned by him as one of his best ever, and I’m inclined to agree.  The atmosphere was intimate, he delivered a spectacular performance and it was of course helped by the fact that it was our first time right up against the stage, so it felt like we were the only ones there.

The next day we drove to Atlantic City for the next Morrissey show.  It was a fairly quick drive compared to driving down from Boston, and we were both struck by how ravaged the area still was from the hurricane in October.  After walking the boardwalk – hey, we can say we’ve seen it -- we stayed in Trump’s Taj Mahal, which was a ridiculously obscene cookie-cutter hotel (every floor looked like every other, all 40+ of them) and found that schlepping through casinos humming with slot machines like bumble bees was a necessary evil to get to the House of Blues, where Morrissey put on another great show.  We were eager to escape the casino madness the next day and drove directly home.

The very next weekend, we were back on the road, driving first to Reading, PA for Morrissey yet again.  We enjoyed the weather which was almost spring-like and sunny.  We hit “cow country” and were pretty astounded by a whole lot of flat nothingness the last hour into Reading.  We stayed at what was apparently the only hot spot in Reading (read: it served drinks after the show) as the rest of the town was zipped up tight on a Friday night.  Indeed we found out after the fact that the band themselves stayed there.  This show will go down in history not only for our front row seats, but also for my sister speaking to Morrissey on-stage during the show.  Truly, memories being made in Reading!

The next day we backtracked to Port Chester, NY.  This town right on the NY/CT border was a little more exciting than Reading.  It had plenty of restaurants for post-show rehydration and nutrition.  It also was gloriously warm (nearly 60) so we waited outside the venue in the general admission line with no coats required!  After a tremendous show here, we headed home knowing we had a few more shows in our future in San Fran, Chicago and LA.

Most of February was spent on safari.  I was having near heart failure only 48 hours before we left, when this part of the country was clobbered by a nasty winter blizzard.  Snow drifted so high I couldn’t get out my back door, but I was fortunately on one of the first outgoing international flights as scheduled. 

Safari changed my life.  Safari made me realize how lucky we are in a first world nation, how casually we consume water and throw out perfectly edible food.  Safari made me realize that clouds just hang over expanses, thunderstorms really do approach in a cell with sun on either side, and there is nothing more beautiful than a late night chorus of lions around camp.  Yes, I will do this again.  In fact, I am doing it again.

In a fit of insanity, five days after arriving home from safari at the beginning of March, I got back on a plane for a mere 36 hours in Los Angeles, for yes, another Morrissey show.  We’d hardly landed in the gorgeous warmth of southern California when we popped into the Getty to see its massive collection and Vermeer’s traveling work “The Milkmaid” and then headed to the show (culture shock of the massive Staples Center after the intimacy of our four previous shows) and then slept and turned around to head home!  If I didn’t succumb to massive jetlag then, I never would.  My poor body clock.  This was, however, the first time we rented a car and got a convertible (of course!) and how we loved riding around in the warm sun and just breathing in fresh air after being cooped up all winter.  This would get addicting, as you will see.

A week later, we were jetting across the country yet again, this time to San Francisco.  We had tickets to a Morrissey show which unfortunately was cancelled due to illness.  Somehow we managed to still have a pretty good long weekend there, crossing the Golden Gate bridge on the open upper deck of a bus, seeing the Dutch Masters at the DeYoung Museum and enjoying the sea lions on Fisherman’s Wharf.  Despite making the most of it, I think we both knew we were southern Cali girls.  We heard the concert was rescheduled here for the end of May and planned to return, but when we found out the concert wouldn’t happen, we gladly redirected to LA, again.

Two weeks (and a minor surgical procedure) later, we hopped our way to Chicago, where a concert was to have taken place but was cancelled as a result of the San Francisco illness.  We decided to go anyway, as we’d never seen Chicago and were desperate to get to the Art Institute.  Graham Elliott Bistro was our splurge restaurant of this trip, and it was worth the wait.  As wonderful as the museum and the food was, the memory burned into our minds was of how gosh-darn cold it was, and we are hearty New Englanders!  So while we loved the Bean and AIofC, I think it’ll be a much warmer day before we return.

I finally got the time to catch my breath for about six weeks as I stayed home for most of April.  There was a quick day trip to NYC to see Edvard Munch’s The Scream at MOMA.  We worked in a trip to Laduree for the world’s finest macarons, and headed home, stopping in Port Chester for some of the best vegetable tempura we’ve ever had.

In May we were off to LA for a proper (ie: week-long with time to settle in and get to know the place).  We made a point to book some great meals (Gordon Ramsay’s London hotel for his famous Beef Wellington, Joe Bastianich and Mario Batali’s Osteria Mozza, Gordon Ramsay’s Fat Cow for fabulous short rib!).   We were in WeHo for cinco de mayo, which wasn’t all that exciting…probably should have gone to a Mexican neighborhood instead!  But our museum going and sightseeing was exceptional this time, given all the time we had:  Space Shuttle Endeavor, dead celebrity sightings at two cemetaries, LACMA, Griffith Observatory, Norton Simon museum in Pasadena and a day spent riding the PCH from Redondo Beach up to Malibu.  That was the day we discovered Zuma Beach, which was our grounding spot in LA thereafter.  No where did we feel as home as there, I think probably because we grew up on the Atlantic and feel the ties to the water.  But Zuma is a beach like no other, and one we’d return to again on future trips.

July found us winging our way first to DC for a day to take in the 150^th retrospective on Edvard Munch at the National Gallery and the JFK Assassination exhibits at Newseum.  Then it was back down to NYC for a few exhibitions (Hopper at the Whitney) and again with the pit stop at Laduree and Port Chester for our favorite Asian stop.

September turned to October and we were back out in LA for a longer holiday still.  This time we hit other museums we’d not seen (Hammer Museum, Huntington Library) and some we’d seen before (LACMA) while also working in day trips to San Diego and Santa Barbara.  Our best meals (ever, some would say) were at Spago, where we got to meet Wolfgang Puck himself, and were treated to the most wonderful food and service I’ve ever experienced.  The next day we were at Nobu, where we had the most amazing shrimp tempura.  I mean really, this was the stuff of dreams.  Of course there is a lot to be said for lunching on a porch right over the Pacific, watching dolphins and seals and sea birds living their lives in the sun…but the food was just spectacular.  We ended our stay at Rick Bayless’ Red O restaurant, sipping $50 margaritas (and worth every penny) and having some very high end, tasty Mexican food.  We of course stopped at Zuma Beach again to say goodbye, but not for long.  We hope.

November had one more trip to NYC in store, as we went to see Johnny Marr (former Smiths bandmate of Morrissey) play at historic Webster Hall and we caught up with Vermeer’s Girl with the Pearl Earring one more time as we saw the Dutch Master’s exhibition on loan at the Frick.  We topped the weekend off with a breakfast at the delectable Norma’s at Le Parker Meridien.  I didn’t think breakfast could be so decadent, but it can…and it was.

So after a year filled like that, I’m anxious to see how, or if, 2014 can measure up.  I thank my sister, who was with me on all but the safari, for the many laughs, lessons learned and life experiences we shared over the many miles.  I hope we continue along this line in 2014!

All This Waiting

Since I last wrote I haven't been up to too much, except a whole lot of waiting.  No, scratch that, I did wing my way out to sunny Southern California for a week and spent a weekend in museum and concert heaven in NYC.  But other than that, it's waiting.  And waiting.

As I've said before, the one thing about signing up for safari is that once you've chosen your tour operator, set the itinerary, paid the deposit and gotten your airfare, that's all there is to do until you go.  At least last year with my first safari, I could busy myself with buying all the safari gear.  Not now.  I'm old hat now.  I only need to buy toiletries and I can go.

That's not to say I'm not reading up or trying to stay abreast of things.  I found all of the conservancies I'm staying at on Facebook and follow their wildlife updates.  It is exciting to hear about recently born lion or cheetah cubs and know that they'll be toddlers by the time I get there.  Or hear that a pack of the very rare African dogs have made their way just outside one camp I'm staying at.  But still, that can't really keep me preoccupied like researching museums, restaurants and daytrips on a non-safari trip can.

So I remedied that.  About 3 weeks ago I was messing around on the internet one Sunday and decided to see how possible it would be to cash in some of my 90,000 United miles for a flight somewhere.  Anywhere.  Not thinking that it'd be possible to anywhere remotely palatable, I plopped Rome in and some random dates in May 2014 and lo and behold, I could do it, with miles to spare.  Hmmmm.  Maybe there's something to this.  So I played a bit more, slept on it and decided it's been 7 years since my last trip to Rome and 8 since my last trip to Florence, and I walked away with a round-trip ticket to Rome and Florence in May, for the grand sum of 60,000 miles and $85.  WOO-HOOO!  It's sort of nice to have that to look forward to a few months after safari.

And finally, the very initial plans of a lengthy fall trip through the UK and Ireland, with a quick stop in Amsterdam is being bandied about by my sister and me.  Since it will be a Milestone Birthday for her next year, she wants to celebrate in style.  Amsterdam and the Hague will have completed massive renovations on the three major museums there (Rijksmuseum, Van Gogh Museum and Mauritshuis) so we'd start there to hit those, and then hit London, Manchester, Edinburgh and Dublin in the remainder of the trip.  Still initial phases but feeling very possible.