2018 – The Chicken Scratches

Singapore 2018

by Ray WhydeDecember 6, 2018September 10, 2022

A lot has changed since the previous post (Costa Rica 2018): we moved to Florida at the end of October, visited The Hunters on Saint Simon Island, GA on our way down and added an new granddaughter, Evelyn, on my birthday (making 11 – grandchildren, not birthdays). In addition, we had visitors to our new home – friends whom were part of our Singapore book club, now living in Minneapolis and visiting their son at university in Florida. At the end of November, my son-in-law, Tom, had to go to Singapore to teach a seminar on film making and asked …

Costa Rica (July 2018)

by Pat & Ray WhydeJuly 31, 2018September 10, 2022

We have had Costa Rica on our list of places to visit for quite some time – now we made it with my son, David, and daughter, Michelle. David brought our grandson, Justin; Michelle brought our granddaughter, Claire. It’s been ages since we have all been together. So glad David and Michelle both wanted to go Costa Rica when we did. The biggest problem was logistics, as flights to San Jose, Costa Rica, from Cleveland and Columbus are limited. Although, Pat and I had a direct flight from Charlotte, everyone else had two flights each way. The drive to our …

Lyon, France (06-16 May 2018)

by Pat & Ray WhydeMay 16, 2018June 5, 20220

On Sunday, May 6, Drew, Drake, Pat and I boarded the train in Nice for our ride to Lyon. The train was comfortable and fast, hitting 181 mph at some point. We were in the first-class section in the upstairs observation deck, with a table between us. There was a single car between us and the dinning car where we went to pickup snacks to last us until we got to Lyon. Being in the upper deck was great, allowing us to really see the passing countryside. Once at the Lyon Part-Dieu train station, we picked up sandwiches to take …

Cap Ferrat and Around (22 April – 05 May 2018)

by Pat & Ray WhydeMay 5, 2018June 5, 20220

We drove from Saint-Cyr-sur-Mer to the Nice airport. It was a beautiful drive through the countryside, hugging the coastline. Jenny and the boys picked us up at the airport and we all headed to the house we would share for a few weeks in Cap Ferrat. This is a peninsula, jutting out into the Mediterranean, located between Nice and Monaco. As with many, if not most, of the towns and cities in France, the roads are narrow, and in the rental car we drove from Toulouse, and the car Jenny picked us up in, too narrow! These roads were not …

France – Driving to Nice (20-22 April 2018)

by Pat & Ray WhydeApril 22, 2018June 5, 20220

The bus trip from Andorra to Toulouse airport took a little over 3 hours and passed through some beautiful mountain scenery. In Toulouse, the rental car company, SixT, upgraded us to a bigger car with no drop-off charge because they needed the car in Nice. Turns out a bigger car is not necessarily a good thing in a country with narrow roads designed for smaller cars. Fortunately, we made it to Nice without any dents or scratches (there may have been a few indentation in the interior from us occasionally gripping too hard). We had decide to drive to Bezier …

Andorra (18-19 April 2018)

by Pat & Ray WhydeApril 19, 2018June 6, 20220

Pat and I took the 10:30 bus from Barcelona to Andorra, passing through some beautiful countryside, and arriving at Andorra la Vella at 13:45 (1:45 PM). When we reached the border with Andorra, there was no border control. Unfortunately, as with all E.U. countries, we didn’t get a stamp in our passports. Andorra is not an E.U. member country, so technically we should have gone through border control, however Andorra uses the Euro currency and is closely related to the E.U. A bit confusing. We arrived in the Andorra’s capital city, Andorra la Vella, we walked (uphill) from the bus …

Barcelona, Spain (13-18 April 2018)

by Pat & Ray WhydeApril 18, 2018June 6, 20220

Time to move on to our next adventure! Step One: drop rental car off at the Valencia-Estacio Del Nord train station (the easiest rental car drop off ever! Hardest thing was finding out how to get into the parking lot). Step Two: board the 13:50 train to Barcelona-Sants. The train trip was comfortable and the views of the coast as we approached Barcelona were beautiful in a back yard kind of way – always interesting to see the parts of a city that is relegated to the train lines. At some points, looking strait down from the window, all you …

Southeast Spain (09-13 April 2018)

by Pat & Ray WhydeApril 14, 2018June 6, 20220

We rented a car again and drove from Nerja to the La Manga Club in southeast Spain, just east of Cartagena. The drive from Nerja was both uneventful and boring – the area was covered with plastic tarps covering massive agricultural plots, many of which looked like large factory farming sites growing tomatoes and artichokes. (West of Nerja the scenery is much prettier.) One of our friends we met in Singapore, Jane (Jane’s Singapore Tours), recommended we stay a few nights at one of her family’s apartments at the La Manga Club, in the Murcia Region. The first full …

Nearby Nerja, Spain ( April 3 & 6, 2018)

by Pat & Ray WhydeApril 10, 2018June 7, 20220

On April 3, Pat and I decided to hike to an old sugar mill and aqueduct, a couple of miles outside of Nerja. We had visited Museo Nerja the day before which inspired this hike. The museums display on both the mill and aqueduct was enticing. We started early and planned on getting breakfast on the way. Unfortunately, we kept putting it off until we were outside the city and there were no more cafes! The last thing we passed, as we got to the town border, was a grocery. Sigh. So we picked up a couple of snacks and …

Nerja, Spain (23 March- 09 April 2018)

by Pat & Ray WhydeApril 9, 2018June 7, 20220

After leaving Ronda, we drove to Malaga to meet up with our friends Jim and Mary Jane. We had a few hours before our friends arrived so Pat and I had time to walk down to the Med and walk the beach to enjoy the views, fresh sea air and gather some sea glass. After our meet up we took a bus to Nerja where we would stay for the next few weeks and enjoy the Easter Week festivities. Because we had been in Nerja two years ago for Christmas, this was a much different visit since we already knew …