Southdale

We left Amsterdam at noon after going through the most security we have ever encountered and saw police officers with their assault weapons at the ready. You can tell when it’s the end of the trip as we had breakfast at McDonald’s in the Amsterdam airport and later had a quick dinner at A&W in the Toronto Airport. They were the cheapest airport restaurants we could find. The flights were a little late leaving but uneventful otherwise. On the Amsterdam flight I felt badly for the older man sitting beside me, because when I started coughing and sneezing he wrapped his woolen scarf around his face!

We did a tally....20 different beds, 9 airplanes, 10 trains, 2 buses, 1 day rental car, and umpteen Metro rides. That was some journey! We reviewed the last 3 months and I felt there was some minor changes I would have made in the Portugal itinerary but other than that we were both pretty happy with our winter escape. Although this year we didn’t quite escape the bad weather, we just exchanged the snow for rain, except for the blizzard in Segovia, and -35 for +12 or so. The rain actually followed us all the way to Toronto! There was a bright blue sky to welcome us home in Winnipeg but I was disappointed to see so much snow in our backyard and to hear about the forecasted -20 tonight.

This trip put a big dent in our kid’s inheritance but we have no regrets. Hopefully they will see things the same way! This was a one-time event so who knows where we will find ourselves next snowbird season!

Adeu (Catalan)
Adios (Spanish)
Ciao (Portuguese )
Auf Wiedersehen (German)
Tot Ziens (Dutch)
See ya later!Read more