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YCGL - April 2, 2025 - I'm on my Way! Kinda.....

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The Trepid Traveler! It’s 9:15 AM on April 2nd and it’s already been a fateful day.  Well, it really started last night.   I have been searching and researching this trip for months, really since October.  I’ve looked up places to go and cities/towns that I want to visit for various reasons.  When I’d find an interesting site or sight, I’d print it out and throw it in my file (which is just a stack of paper sitting on top of one of the cardboard boxes full of other stuff in my office and close enough to my desk that most of what I toss to the pile doesn’t end up on the floor).  That included walking tours, tickets to events and trains, guides, tours that I wouldn’t take but listed good things to know, numerous important emails from Viking (90% of which was repetitious), etc.   I did my first sorting in February, culling what I could and ended up with about a stack of paper about 3/8” thick in a 3-ring binder.  I started my final sorting and putting in ...
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YCGL - April 1, 2025 - I've got another Big Trip, and I Ain't Fooling!

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 Hey Everybody, It's April and I have another big trip set up!  This one started back last October and has been building pretty much every day since.   I'm going back to Europe for five weeks. Sadly, I won't hit Norway this time, but I have been there twice in the last two years. In fairness, I really should go somewhere else, so I am.  I'm starting with a trip that Sally and I had talked about a lot over several years and would have done before now, if it had been in the cards.   I'm starting with the Viking Grand European Tour .   Tomorrow (Wednesday, 4/2/20205), I'm flying to Prague, where I'll spend three nights.  Then, I'll be transported to Budapest and start the actual cruise.  There will be two nights in Budapest, two nights in Vienna, and then a portion of each day in each port in the map above to Amsterdam (Sunday, 4/20/2025).  Then, I will spend (on my own not an organized tour): 2 nights in Amsterdam, 3 nights in Be...
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YCGL - March 6-8, 2025 - The "Come Back Again" Dives and More

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The two dives yesterday were really good.  This morning, there were only five of us on the boat (plus Pepe and Ricardo and the pilot, who I'm sure has no name, or voice.  We finally got him to wave at us as we got off the boat this afternoon).   I didn't get a picture of the two guys sitting across from us.  They were two brothers who I would guess to be about 72 and 75.  They were both attorneys.  On Tuesday, we did "where are you from" introductions and they said they were from Fargo, ND.  The young lady on the boat that day was from Minneapolis and was a niece of theirs.  Steve said he was from Denver and I said Laramie.  The social brother asked if I was with the university and I said yes, I was a professor in Civil Engineering for 34 years.  "Oh, do you know a guy named Norbert Svaboda-Colburg?"  "I know him a little, but I know his wife Patricia very well, she was in my department and we worked together a lot."  "Pat...
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YCGL - March 6, 2025 - What A Day...Need I say more???

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 Good writing dictates that you are suppose to start with the small stuff.  It's been a long day, my back has hurt the last half of it, and dad-gum-it, I want to show this.  I'll fill in the filler later, like tomorrow.   OK, time to back up.  Diving on Thursday and Friday have been great, the days you remember later and make you want to come back.   We saw lots and my camera worked somewhat on the first dive. These next two days will be mostly pictures, because the photos tell the story.  Our morning dive was to Palancar Deep.  Steve and I stayed fairly close together. (Remember, you can click on the photos to enlarge them!) First turtle sighting of the day.  That's pretty exciting.  You don't see them often.  But a little later: The second turtle sighting.  This is rare.  I don't remember ever seeing two turtles in one day, or one week. It's swimming between Pepe and Steve! There were a lot of fish!  The water ...
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