Author Archives: brianfjohnston

Travel Home; Day 3

One of the things about long road trips, where you are in the car for 8+ hours is the need for a variety of activities for the passengers. In our car today, the kids watched 2 movies (Lion King and Zootopia), listened to parts of 2 audiobooks and played a rousing game of DnD withContinue reading “Travel Home; Day 3”

Union Pier, Michigan; Day 3

We enjoyed some favorable weather and spent time down at the pool. Brian’s mom had thought to bring some items of interest for the kids. One of which was the set of bubble wands which produced some amazing bubbles – CreeperKitty used the technique with a rope he’d seen in Geneva and made some goodContinue reading “Union Pier, Michigan; Day 3”

Union Pier, Michigan; Day 1

We had one final breakfast at Mamoh’s house, finished packing the family van and departed for Michigan. Brian’s mom (Busha) rented a large house in Southwest Michigan to host the 5 Adventurers as we make our way back home. We arrived before dinner and had just enough time for a quick game of billiards (actuallyContinue reading “Union Pier, Michigan; Day 1”

Leesburg, Ohio Part 4; Day 5

We have begun to sort our affairs here at Mamoh’s house and are starting to consider all of the stuff which needs to come to California with us. As you may remember, we drove from home last summer with camping gear and items which would sustain us through the North American part of the WorldContinue reading “Leesburg, Ohio Part 4; Day 5”

Leesburg, Ohio Part 4; Day 3

Here in Leesburg there are a number of things that have changed since we were last in town. One of these changes is the addition of a new cafe on Main Street. It’s notable because Leesburg only has 2 restaurants and we visited the second one (and latest addition) today. We were able to enjoyContinue reading “Leesburg, Ohio Part 4; Day 3”

Leesburg, Ohio Part 4; Day 1

We had one last Adventure this morning in New York to visit an old President. Then we went to see a new building, flew on an old airplane, and drove a new car to a familiar destination. Tiffany lived in Ulysses S. Grant’s boyhood hometown of Georgetown, Ohio. Her father Stan (Pa) is the PresidentContinue reading “Leesburg, Ohio Part 4; Day 1”

New York, New York; Day 3

Yesterday was our downtown day. Today was our Central Park day and was another 8 miles of walking. We didn’t awaken at 4:30a as we had on Thursday morning but we were still up early as our European body clock timings dissipate slowly. We are staying a few blocks off of the park so weContinue reading “New York, New York; Day 3”

New York, New York; Day 1

Today our Adventurers took their last long flight and departed Europe after nearly 13 weeks travelling from one bucket list destination to another. We were last in NY (and the US) late on December 6th as we ran through New York’s Kennedy Airport to catch a flight to Thailand (via Qatar). Our total time hereContinue reading “New York, New York; Day 1”

London, United Kingdom; Day 4

Yesterday, we visited the West End to see a stage production and talked about the kid’s current obsession with Percy Jackson and the Olympians. But before Percy, there was obsession with Wings of Fire. Before that was Lemony Snicket and his Unfortunate Events. But the big one, the one that started it all, is ofContinue reading “London, United Kingdom; Day 4”

Amsterdam, Netherlands; Day 4

We have enjoyed some marvelous weather here this week. Brian was here in June during the World Cup 2006 and experienced some great weather then. In fact, he doesn’t believe that he as ever seen rain in this country. We will have to see if that weather luck holds out through rainy London starting tomorrow!Continue reading “Amsterdam, Netherlands; Day 4”

Amsterdam, Netherlands; Day 2

There are 30 parks in Amsterdam and we visited many of them today. There are over 800k bicycles here too and we added 5 of our own to see those parks! We rented typical Dutch bikes and found them to be easy to procure, ride, and lock. The vast number of bicycle lanes and fellowContinue reading “Amsterdam, Netherlands; Day 2”

Brussels, Belgium; Day 5

On a cool and rainy day in Belgium our Adventurers were able to take care of some final travel arrangements, pack for Amsterdam tomorrow, play Minecraft and watch a classic movie from the 80’s. In other words, today was a leisurely Sunday spent without the usual number of steps in our average week.  We areContinue reading “Brussels, Belgium; Day 5”

Brussels, Belgium; Day 3

Today we had a full complement of 5 Adventurers to explore this capital city of Belgium and, in a way, the European Union. We chose to travel on the Brussels Metro to get around. We found this Metro to be a bit shabbier, smaller, and more expensive than the Paris version but it was muchContinue reading “Brussels, Belgium; Day 3”

Bailly-Romainvilliers, France; Day 2

Hmmm…how did we come to choose this particular French town as a stop for our European Adventures you wonder? Simple. We spent the day at Disneyland Paris. Instead of walking miles seeing history, nature or culture, we rode rides, ate junk food and overall had a great time. And of course walked miles back andContinue reading “Bailly-Romainvilliers, France; Day 2”

Paris, France; Day 7

We have walked 34 miles (54 km) here in Paris this past week. Some of our walking today happened in front of and on top of masterpieces. And CreeperPuppy successfully tied his own shoe at Monsieur Eiffel’s iron masterpiece. We began the day by a return trip to the Jardin des Tuileries. The adults wantedContinue reading “Paris, France; Day 7”

Paris, France; Day 5

We had an All-American day which was only disrupted by a kind French woman seeking directions. The kids have consistently said that they miss breakfast the most. They missed the concept of eggs and toast while we were in Asia and Africa. They missed morning pork badly when we were in the UAE, Egypt andContinue reading “Paris, France; Day 5”

Paris, France; Day 3

We wanted to enjoy being Parisians for a day by staying in our neighborhood and investigating local parks and restaurants. We are staying in a small apartment near the historic Le Marais area. We almost made it down to the Seine yesterday before tiring so we decided that this would be a good goal forContinue reading “Paris, France; Day 3”

Paris, France; Day 1

Today was primarily a travel day as we left the French Alps for the capital city of Paris. In order to get there, we returned to Geneva and caught a high speed train which delivered us to the Gare de Lyon in a little over 3 hours. The kids haven’t had a tremendous amount ofContinue reading “Paris, France; Day 1”

Chamonix, France; Day 4

We decided today that we would get outside into the beauty of this valley regardless of the weather conditions. And to start, we were rewarded with sunshine and mild temperatures. We chose to pursue the objectives of an orienteering course which runs though Chamonix. There are 20 stations deployed throughout the valley area. An orienteerContinue reading “Chamonix, France; Day 4”

Chamonix, France; Day 3

Some rainy days you adjust your plans and stay inside. Today we decided to do what we wanted to do despite the weather. Our hope today was to get a closer look at the second of the ‘Seven Summits’ that we’ve been near during this trip. These are the tallest mountains on each of theContinue reading “Chamonix, France; Day 3”

Chamonix, France; Day 2

Our accommodations here in Chamonix are appropriately befitting a ski town. There is a large ski locker room in the basement whose flooring is thick rubber mats to cushion the blows of hard ski boots. The interior walls are all knotty pine and threadbare carpet. There is an indoor pool and a pair of saunas.Continue reading “Chamonix, France; Day 2”

Geneva, Switzerland

Today was primarily a travel day as we said goodbye to Italy and hello to a new country. We left Venice by boat (of course) and met up with the first of our three trains today. The trip from the Venice – Santa Lucia train station to the Venice-Mestre station was pretty quick. Enough soContinue reading “Geneva, Switzerland”

Venice, Italy; Day 2

We awoke today to a sky which couldn’t seem to make up its mind whether it would offer rain or sun. The radar wasn’t much help. We thought we’d run out for breakfast, but we were slow to get our shoes on and a light shower drove us to cook at home. After making breakfastContinue reading “Venice, Italy; Day 2”

Bologna, Italy

As much as the parents wanted to visit the crypts of Donatelli and Michelangelo, the kids seemed to be in need of a different type of Adventure. We have seen a lot of cathedrals and statues in Europe so far and have several more on our list to see in the next few weeks. InContinue reading “Bologna, Italy”

San Gimignano, Italy; Day 7

We said arrivederci to 2 Adventurers today. Grandpa Ed and Grandma Loesje have been away from home for 6 weeks and were ready to return to California. Brian drove them to the Florence Airport to send them to Amsterdam and then onto America tomorrow. The Florence Airport is quite different from the Florence rail stationContinue reading “San Gimignano, Italy; Day 7”

San Gimignano, Italy; Day 5

We went to Italian cooking school today in Montaione. It is another remarkable hilltop Tuscan town with buildings from the 12th century. It was remarkable today, however, for the notable lack of individuals that we encountered. We saw no tourists besides ourselves and no locals roaming the streets. We found this strange but decided thatContinue reading “San Gimignano, Italy; Day 5”

San Gimignano, Italy; Day 1

We all enjoyed Rome much more than we had anticipated. We stayed in the Trastevere neighborhood and found a local park that the kids insisted on visiting nearly all 5 days that we were there. The restaurants served delicious food which made us feel better about the slightly inflated prices. And the sites that weContinue reading “San Gimignano, Italy; Day 1”

Rome, Italy; Day 4

We found ourselves travelling to another country today. This country is, according to our helpful guide, the wealthiest country in the world but also the smallest. It lies entirely within the city of Rome and has been here since the 5th century (but only recognized with sovereignty in the 20th century). Of course, we areContinue reading “Rome, Italy; Day 4”

Rome, Italy; Day 2

We are finding that Rome is a very walkable city and didn’t find ourselves lost even once. It helps to have 5G coverage and internet mapping because the old part of the city has zero right angles and thousands of ways to get confused and turned around. For those of you that have visited thisContinue reading “Rome, Italy; Day 2”

Rota, Spain; Day 24

We had a few short drive Adventures today seeing some new areas of Andalucía. We dropped Tiffany off at the Chipiona post office to send a package to Cincinnati to Sister/Aunt/Grandma Tracy. The kids and Brian went back to the nice park to ride their zip line and to wait for Tiffany to return. WhenContinue reading “Rota, Spain; Day 24”

Rota, Spain; Day 22

Our hosts provided us with a helpful guide regarding the beachside apartment here in Rota. We have used several of the suggestions for places to visit and local markets to shop. Today, we walked over to the Mindundi Frutas store for two large bags of fruit and vegetables. Everything looked good and appeared fresh. OurContinue reading “Rota, Spain; Day 22”

Rota, Spain; Day 20

We enjoyed the afternoon at the park and then Brian cooked a chicken dinner for these Adventurers. The kids enjoyed their time at this park which sits only three blocks away from the apartment. If the zip-line cable wasn’t damaged then it might even be better than the park they found at Chipiona on Friday.Continue reading “Rota, Spain; Day 20”

Rota, Spain; Day 16

We spent most of the day in another coastal town in the Western Andulisia part of Spain called Chipiona. It lies about 10 km (6 miles) north of Rota. Our destination was the lighthouse which is the tallest in Spain. We were geared up to climb the 350 spiraling stairs. Before we got there theContinue reading “Rota, Spain; Day 16”

Rota, Spain; Day 14

We took a trip into the “big city” of Cádiz to visit the main cathedral and to see some of the other historic sites of this ancient port. Our trip into Cádiz gave us a chance for an up close view of the magnificent bridge that we can clearly see from Rota. This is theContinue reading “Rota, Spain; Day 14”

Rota, Spain; Day 8

Brian took two of the Adventurers out to the grocery store. They stopped at the panadería for a few sweet treats. Suaram chose the piece of chocolate cake on the right and CreeperPuppy chose the cupcake on the left. Everyone appreciated getting to go for a walk and earning these calories. Tiffany cooked this eveningContinue reading “Rota, Spain; Day 8”

Rota, Spain; Day 5

Today was Easter Sunday which is a major holy holiday here in Spain (and in the rest of the Christian world). Again we saw many folks congregating on the beach enjoying the 22°C (72°F) temperatures. The children awoke earlier than usual looking for signs of the Easter Bunny. They had been disappointed that a leprechaunContinue reading “Rota, Spain; Day 5”

Rota, Spain; Day 4

Suaram, CreeperKitty and CreeperPuppy were happy to be out for breakfast together at a charming local café. The kids proficiency with Spanish has allowed them to easily order their favorite European breakfast. Dad chose Croissant Con Jamón instead of Chocolate. This weekend in Rota it seems everyone in Spain was taking advantage of the threeContinue reading “Rota, Spain; Day 4”

Dispatch from Isolation Ward, Day 2

I am still showing as virus-free (hooray) and will be isolating with the COVID positive boys. They have been fever-free since yesterday and have been spending an inordinate amount of time on their tablets. One dividend from this will be that they will each submit a daily post for your reading pleasure. I hope youContinue reading “Dispatch from Isolation Ward, Day 2”

Barcelona, Spain; Day 1

We departed the Portuguese capital of Lisbon this morning for Spain.  Both countries are, of course, European Union nations and share currencies, open market trading bloc objectives, and other diplomatic advantages. One of these advantages struck us soon after arriving in Barcelona.  The process to proceed from the plane to our taxi outside was simple,Continue reading “Barcelona, Spain; Day 1”

Lisbon, Portugal; Day 4

We wanted to see some more of this lovely area and rode on the train West to see the town of Sintra. The National Palace of Pena and an old Moorish Castle could be found there about 20 km (12+ miles) away from the center of Lisbon. To get there we took the Lisbon MetroContinue reading “Lisbon, Portugal; Day 4”