Bucket List

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Number 1 on my bucket list is to go on an African Safari. This would be the exploring kind, not the hunting kind. Not that I’m against responsible hunting- it’s just not my thing. I’ll hunt with my camera instead.

Number 29 on my bucket list would be to swim with dolphins. I have heard of places that allow you to do this. I think this could be an incredible experience, especially if the dolphins would want to interact with me.

Number 86 on my bucket list is to go scuba diving. I have never seriously looked into this, so I don’t know how to start. I’ll probably have to earn some certification classes. I can’t be bothered to start the search just yet. I will do this soon enough.

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If you’ve ever met me, you’ll know that I love music, especially country music. This is the genre that I was raised on, mostly. When I hear the right song, I’m reminded about growing up in southern Arizona, and I feel more at home.

Bucket list item number 21 is to attend a country music festival in the state of Tennessee. I have been to concerts and even Country to Country in Scotland a few times, but hopefully, once COVID-19 leaves, I can get a friend or two together, and we can take a road trip to some sort of festival. I haven’t done very much research yet, but I look forward to making a plan!

Number 71 on the bucket list is to visit Neuschwanstein Castle!

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According to Wikipedia- Neuschwanstein Castle is a 19th-century Romanesque Revival palace on a rugged hill above Hohenschwangau’s village near Fussen in southwest Bavaria, Germany. This is also said to be the castle that inspired Disney’s ‘Cinderella’s castle.’  This exact item was supposed to be checked off this year, but I had to cut my vacation travels short because of the COVID-19 mess. As of tonight, I don’t really know when this will happen. I will, however, keep you in the loop.

Picture Borrowed from Wikipedia, until I can get my own picture.

Ten years ago, this past September, I checked off number 28!

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I went to Dollywood! I haven’t until now, however, posted the pictures or stories from this adventure. The good news: I just came across all of the images and videos from that trip. The bad news: I can’t remember most of the stories of what was going on at that time.

What I do remember, however, is that my friend Colee came to visit me while I still lived in Kentucky, and we went on a road trip down to Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. On the way down, we listened to a lot of Dolly Parton’s music, and we stopped for a night at my friend Heather’s house.

Dollywood was a blast, and I would love to go back again! On the way home, we went Zorbing, and then we stopped by Mammoth Cave to explore. It was a really fun trip and an amazing visit with my dear friend, Colee!

I have finally put all these videos together, if you’d like to take a look. The first one is our trip down to Dollywood, and the second one is our trip back up to my home in Kentucky. I hope you enjoy!

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I’m sure that many of you have been seeing what is happening in the airline industry right now. Covid-19 has undoubtedly taken its toll. I searched for the known impact, and I found this Wikipedia entry. It is so sad to see what is happening at the moment.

One way my employers are trying to avoid laying anybody off is by offering us an option to take a voluntary leave. They are calling it “Extended Time Off” or E.X.T.O. They let those interested decide if they wanted to take up to either 6, 12, or 18 months off, with partial pay. I happen to be one of these 17,000 employees who took advantage of this.

So, I have up to the next 12 months off. Not only will I make a partial paycheck, but I’m still considered a full-time employee. This means that I have all of my health and travel benefits still. While traveling the world for a year seems like a beautiful idea, Covid-19 is still rampant in some parts of the world.

While I would love to visit my beloved Scotland for the next six months, I don’t think they want Americans to come for a visit just yet. However, I believe that I should be exempt just because of my sheer love for all things Scotland.

Instead, I’ve decided to hunker down, for the time being, with a dear friend who happens to be going through some significant health issues. The plan is to try to help out in any way I can, even if I can only offer support.

There may not be as many travel entries for a while. I’ll use this time to fix some older entries and maybe talk about more things on the bucket list. As you know, I’ve slacked off quite a bit with the blog. I do beg your forgiveness!

I will try to keep this blog’s theme true: This is a record of my travels and chasing the things on my bucket list. I don’t plan on posting very much about what is going on in my personal life, but I will share one cool thing that I find exciting- just over a month ago, I rescued a little girl that I named ‘Reba.’

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I guess I’m allowed to cross number 37 off of my bucket list. Well, technically, that is. The goal was to buy a Eurail pass, and that’s one of the things that I did for this last trip. Even though I didn’t actually get to use my pass (waste of money), I still purchased one.

As you know, my trip this year was cut short because of the havoc that COVID was reeking on Europe. The intended route was to fly down to Paris (after Scotland), take the train into Switzerland, southern Germany, and eventually all the way to Prague- but since things were closing, including borders, I decided that it was best to get my butt back to the states.

My experience having to deal with the Eurail people wasn’t all that great. You fill out your information online, and they have to mail you the pass. On this pass, you have to fill in the exact information of the train you want to take. This is leg by leg- I couldn’t just say I wanted to go from Paris to Geneva. If there was a connection leg, then I’d have to fill out each portion. It was really annoying-

My first complaint is that this should all be done online. I shouldn’t have to rely on my illegible penmanship. Surely this could all be done electronically. Perhaps we could be given some sort of pass/card to access the trains- the system they have set up now is obviously one that they’ve had in place since the 80s or early 90s.

On my next go-round, I’m not even going to bother with a pass, I’ll just book the trains individually. When I added up all the fares that I had to pay, I really wasn’t saving THAT much money by getting the pass. Maybe you had a better experience than I did?

Scotland 8: Day 24, The Conclusion

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03.25.20 | Home | 23:47

I woke up after about nine hours of sleep! Nine hours isn’t usually something that my body requires, but I think lugging my backpack all around London wiped me out.

I got all my things ready and checked out of the hostel. One night is not enough time to spend in London. I’ll have to make it part of the planning for my next go-round. I just hope that the next go-round won’t be cut short by any viruses.

Heathrow has no lines and no waits. It was amazing to walk right up to the ticket counter and right up to the security line. I guess there is the silver lining on this whole debacle. In no time at all, I was in the gate area, buying cookies for the crew.

When Norwegian has to cancel my original flight home, I booked my Delta flight from London to Detroit, and then to Salt Lake City. Yesterday that first flight got canceled, and so They changed me to fly from London to Atlanta to Detroit and finally to Salt Lake City. Yes, it was annoying to be given that extra leg, but I knew that they were doing their best to get me home.

About halfway from London to Atlanta, I was looking at my itinerary, and I noticed that they had me missing my Detroit flight by about an hour! This would have meant that I’d have to spend a night in Detroit, and I was hoping that this wouldn’t happen.

I started doing research, connected to the plane’s wifi and noticed that there were still at least two nonstop flights from Atlanta to Salt Lake City after we were supposed to be landing in Atlanta. I jumped in Delta’s app, and after having to wait in line for about an hour and a half, I managed to get to chat with a customer service agent.

She was able to change me to one of the nonstops to SLC. Now I’m back in my original plan of only having to take two flights to get home! I’m so thankful that my first plane had working wifi available!

I need to hand it to my first crew! The flight crews were terrific, and even though it took a long time to get through to customer service, they were able to make things right! I know that they are working their fingers to the bone to get passengers home in the wake of this coronavirus disaster- so kudos!

My second crew, on the other hand, were not as good. When I dropped off treats, the flight attendant barely even acknowledged me- no big deal, I guess. Also, they didn’t even seem like they wanted to be there. It was such a contrast from the first group. I wish I hadn’t wasted the chocolate on them.

I am now home and getting ready to fall asleep. There is no way I could adequately describe how tired I am. I have so much on my mind. What have I learned from this trip?

1. Be flexible in your travels

2. Always pay the extra price in case you need to cancel or change your plans (no penalty)

3. Always talk to strangers

4. Remember that travel is about the journey, not just the destination

And with that- I’m off to bed.

Scotland 8: Day 23

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03.24.20 | London, England | 20:53

When I got to Glasgow Central Station this morning, I couldn’t see my 08:00 train listed on the board. I noticed that there had been an earlier one to London that had been canceled. I admit that I was a little bit worried that all the trains may be canceled because of the coronavirus mess.

I found an employee, and after doing some research, he told me that my train’s time was changed to 08:40, but was still running. That was a relief! He then told me there was one leaving in about 5 minutes and that if I hurried, I could catch that one instead.

As I approached the lady with my ticket, she asked me, “Is your travel absolutely necessary?” I told her that I was flying out of London, back to my home in the states, so unless she wanted to book me a plane ticket out of Glasgow, then yes, my travel was necessary. Needless to say, the train was very light. There were only five of us in this particular car. Just before we left the station, an employee came through and asked that we all remain at least two meters apart on the ride. He even separated a couple who is traveling together.

Getting all the way to Euston Station in London takes just under 5 hours if I was paying attention. I was lost in a movie for most of the ride, however. When we arrived, I was bound and determined to walk the 3.2 miles to my hostel. This was quite an accomplishment since I had my big ole pack on my back. I only stopped once to take off my coat, so I’m pretty proud of myself. When I arrived, they let me check in a bit early. I just wanted to get off my feet for a few minutes.

I didn’t spend very much time in my room. This is London, after all. I’m only here for one night, so I wanted to make the most of it. I walked to Westminster Abbey, Elizabeth Tower, and took a look at the London Eye. As expected, nothing was open. I couldn’t see Big Ben because it was hidden behind scaffolding. The London Eye isn’t turning today. I did get a few pictures while I was out and about!

It was sort of depressing. And to think that I was initially going to spend an entire week here. Sadly, it’s time to get back to the states. Tomorrow is there legs home… hoping everything is on time, and there are no cancelations. That seems to be what is happening all around the world right now.

Scotland 8: Day 22

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3.23.20 | Glasgow, Scotland | 20:53

Today was a bittersweet feeling. Sweet because it’s always nice to be in this country that I love so much. Bitter that today is my last full day in Scotland. Also, I’m having to cut my trip short. As I mentioned in an earlier post, this was only the second phase of my three phases of vacation. The first was the week I spent with my family in Hawaii, and the third was supposed to be a trip through Europe.

My original plan was to fly south. The route was all mapped out (you know how I love to plan!). After four days in Paris, it was going to be Switzerland, spending a few days in Geneva, Zermatt (the Matterhorn!!!!), and then Lucerne. From there, it was up to Germany: Heidelberg, Fussen (Neuschwanstein Castle!!!), and the Munich. Then I was heading down to Austria: Salzburg and Vienna. Finally, the last part of this trip was set to be six days in Prague, Czech Republic.


Can you see why I’m a little bit heartbroken? I’m honestly not afraid of the coronavirus. But the problem is that every business that is not essential for survival is closed down until who-knows-when. The good news is that almost all of my Airbnbs’ and hostels’ that I had booked have given me a full refund. And the two who didn’t offer me a refund, won’t get my business when this trip happens.

Several more bucket list items would have been checked off, but these dreams will have to be realized at a future date.

I’m choosing instead to focus on the blessings that I do recognize right now. For instance, you know I l love Scotland! Half my heart is here- I plan on leaving it here, too. That way, I will always have an excuse to plan my another visit.

Scotland 8: Day 21

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3.22.20 | Glasgow, Scotland | 19:45

I didn’t get a wink of sleep last night. I don’t know what it is- just couldn’t clear my head, with all of this virus nonsense going on. It’s not that I’m even worried. It’s essential to be safe and take care of yourself, but I feel that people are overreacting. I guess it’s better to be safe than sorry.

The bus system doesn’t run on Sundays on the Isle of Mull. I found out about this on Saturday night, so I had to call a taxi service to give me a ride from Tobermory to the ferry at Craignure. This cost me a whopping £50! This is pretty much highway robbery, but it was either that, or hitchhike. I’m not even sure if that’s legal in Scotland.

Pretty soon, I was off the ferry and on the train, headed back down to Glasgow. I tried to sleep on the way, but that’s worse than trying to sleep on the airplane. I gave up and read from the book, Scottish Murders. Even though reading usually relaxes me, there’s something about a murder that holds my attention.

Glasgow is like a ghost town. With everyone doing their self-quarantine as the government has asked of them, I have never seen a city so dead! It was almost spooky to walk around.