by Jeff Drake | Nov 29, 2018 | Travel
During our tour of Japan we got to meet with two different Buddhist monks, each representing different branches of Buddhism within Japan. These meetings were interesting on several different levels. I studied Eastern philosophies and religions a lot when I was in...
by Jeff Drake | Nov 25, 2018 | Travel
I have been pondering our recent experiences in Japan to try and put my finger on exactly what bothered me about our Japan trip. Generally, we had a good trip, but it didn’t really live up to our expectations and left us feeling that our next trip will be on our own...
by Jeff Drake | Nov 17, 2018 | Travel
Our tour was supposed to avoid cities and focus on “culture”, etc., but Japan is not some third world country. Everywhere you go you see a bustling atmosphere, lots of office buildings, stores and restaurants. Let me tell you, the Japanese are apparently huge...
by Jeff Drake | Nov 17, 2018 | Travel
One thing that was interesting in Kanazawa is when we got to meet with a Fukushima refugee couple. They currently live in Kanazawa and have a restaurant where we had lunch. (It was a vegan restaurant. I’m probably the only one who wasn’t thrilled with our lunch. Every...
by Jeff Drake | Nov 17, 2018 | Travel
Wow, the time has flown by! Too busy doing the tour to take time to blog. It can’t be helped. It seems to be that every time we travel, I am forced to blog about the trip mostly after we return to the states, rather than during the trip itself. That’s okay, actually....
by Jeff Drake | Nov 12, 2018 | Travel
It’s hard to believe that we’ve already experienced half of our tour of Japan! I tried to approach this trip with an open mind. Although I had been to Japan some years ago on business, I didn’t really see anything outside of Shinjuku near my hotel, so I didn’t think...
by Jeff Drake | Nov 11, 2018 | Travel
That’s Japanese for “sorry!” I left my PC in my bag while we went to the mountains and then had issues posting via my smartphone. Pilot error, of course. I’ll write more later. We’re off to see the garden again, this time lit up at night....
by Jeff Drake | Nov 6, 2018 | Travel
We arrived yesterday afternoon with a – thankfully – rather uninteresting flight. Actually, the one thing interesting about this United flight is that we experienced some of the worst airplane food we’ve had in some years. The food was almost unbelievably bad! It was...
by Jeff Drake | Nov 4, 2018 | Travel
Only a few hours to go until we leave for Japan! I tried to schedule a Lyft for 4:45am, but didn’t get any takes, so we’re going to the airport by ordinary taxi. Oh, well. My last post left on in Kanazawa. On day 9 of our trip, after tea with a local Kanazawa family,...
by Jeff Drake | Nov 1, 2018 | Travel
We’re getting down to the finer details for our upcoming trip to Japan – making sure our camera SD cards are empty and the camera lenses are clean; charging all our electronic devices; making sure we have the proper cables; printing out important documents (to go with...
by Jeff Drake | Oct 29, 2018 | Travel
Wow, time is flying! Par for the course for all our other Overseas Adventure (OAT) Tours, as the date for our trip grows closer we’ve now had a chance to talk to our country guide, Hiroshi Ninigawa, and have received a list of our fellow travelers. It looks like this...
by Jeff Drake | Oct 14, 2018 | Travel
My wife and I haven’t been out of the country since June and we were getting restless. So many places to see and so little time! Where to go? Our wish list of travel places to visit is long, so we went through a number of choices before making a final decision. We...
by Jeff Drake | Jul 5, 2018 | 2018 Spain & Portugal
Hola! Well, it’s travel time again! Actually, travel time is past due for my wife and I, as we haven’t been out of the country since September 2017! This was a long stretch for us. We normally try to do at least two foreign adventures per year,...
by Jeff Drake | Jul 5, 2018 | 2018 Spain & Portugal
Only 3 days left before our departure. Yay! Long air travel is never something to look forward to. On Monday the 11th we will fly out mid-morning to JFK airport in New York, enjoy a leisurely 2.5 hour layover, then board our flight bound for Lisbon, Portugal. We land...
by Jeff Drake | Jul 5, 2018 | 2018 Spain & Portugal
We depart for Portugal and Spain the day after tomorrow! Tick, tock! Time is flying. Given the really bad news we all received this week about celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain and our upcoming journey, I thought the following quote was worth repeating: “Travel isn’t...
by Jeff Drake | Jul 5, 2018 | 2018 Spain & Portugal
Well, we won’t really be in Portugal till Tuesday, but what the heck, mentally we are out of here! We spent the afternoon pouring through more Youtube videos of the places we will be visiting and the hotels, pousadas and paradors where we will be staying, so at...
by Jeff Drake | Jul 5, 2018 | Travel
Hi folks! We arrived yesterday without any travel hassles, which was very nice! I only got about 45 minutes sleep on the plane and Lisa didn’t get much either, so by the time we hit the ack last night, we were both exhausted. As good fortune would have it, last...
by Jeff Drake | Jul 5, 2018 | Travel
The old science fiction book, Dune, has a saying that goes, “He who controls the spice, controls the universe.” This could hold true for Portugal, for its history is full of hard-fought battles, royal family strife, subterfuge and local stuggle, all over...
by Jeff Drake | Jul 5, 2018 | Travel
On the bus for overland trip to Evora and our first pousada! Last night I had a wonderful grilled octopus and an excellent red wine. Most of the wine here is blended. This is because many years ago they planted all kinds of grape varieties just to see which would...
by Jeff Drake | Jul 5, 2018 | 2018 Spain & Portugal
Today was the city tour and a Portuguese Cooking class. The food is quite simple and simply delicious! It’s getting warmer, tomorrow we will be in the 90’s! We also will leave Portugal and head to Carmona, Spain. Evora is a charming city, but I think 2 or...
by Jeff Drake | Jul 5, 2018 | Travel
The city has an ancient wall and reminds us of Tuscany. Read the rest
by Jeff Drake | Jul 5, 2018 | Travel
Had a great visit to Portugal! Just spent a couple hours at the Roman ruins at Merida. A very nice town! Enjoyed a wonderful gazpacho. The olives were outstanding! Read the rest
by Jeff Drake | Jul 5, 2018 | Travel
We have arrived at our 14th century paradise. It is beautiful! Read the rest
by Jeff Drake | Jul 5, 2018 | Travel
Yep, that’s Duke d’Alba. Yum! Read the rest
by Jeff Drake | Jul 5, 2018 | 2018 Spain & Portugal
Wow, I finally have a little time to start to organize our photos, videos and write something to my blog. We have been very busy! Lisa and I really enjoyed Portugal and were happy to finally get to visit the country and mark it off our bucket list. But, we both agree,...
by Jeff Drake | Jul 5, 2018 | 2018 Spain & Portugal
Today we had a “learning and discovery” activity. We got to spend the better part of a day at a bull ranch, owned and operated by a well-known Spanish matador, Rafael Tejada. All I can say is that being a matador must be very lucrative! He has a huge 500...
by Jeff Drake | Jul 5, 2018 | Travel
Our home till tomorrow. I have never been to a place before where you can see olive trees in every direction, from horizon to horizon! Read the rest
by Jeff Drake | Jul 5, 2018 | 2018 Spain & Portugal
Okay, I lied. Cordoba is actually a very old and beautiful city in southern Spain. Like many others, it began as a neolithic settlement, then came the Romans, then the Muslims. In fact, it became the capital of the Islamic emirate and the Caliphate of Cordoba i.e, a...
by Jeff Drake | Jul 5, 2018 | 2018 Spain & Portugal
Hi folks! I have to make this a quick post. I may get a chance to say more later. It’s hard to believe our trip is almost over. We leave on a flight tomorrow morning at (ugh) 6:00am. We won’t get much sleep tonight. I do have more to say about our trip, as...
by Jeff Drake | Jul 1, 2018 | 2018 Spain & Portugal
Hola muchachos! We are home after our trip to Portugal and Spain and at this point, well-rested! Jet lag was rough for a couple days, but this wasn’t our first rodeo, so we pushed through it. By the way, we both agree that purchasing the extra legroom seats on...
