I saw so much and took so many photos on this trip that I've had to split the blog by day to even begin to relay the experiene. Click on each day's link for the full entry.

1/13-1/23/2023 Trip to Spain and Portugal - countries 32 and 33 for me, respectively.

Good way to start off the new year, with a bit of travel. The past year has been a whirlwind of experiences (see earlier blogs in this section and last entry in TRAVEL, and there is a lot besides that). Yet so much more to learn and see. On with it then.

The outbound journey is a bit challenging - three flights totaling 13 hours in the air, and two layovers adding up to another 11 hours in airports. But, still beats covered wagons and tall ships.

I bring a book to read - 'How to win frieds and influence people'. It was first published almost 100 years ago but is still very relevant, and is just the info I need at this point in life. As I read it, I looked back at some of recent successes and realized that I had used some of the techniques the book suggests. Two-way validation.

All the reading does put a strain on the eyes, especially since I try not to use the reading glasses. More on that later.

Day 1 - arrival in Madrid and drive to Porto - Full day link

Day 2 - Porto - Full day link

Day 3 - Porto and Nazare - Full day link

Day 4 - Nazare and Lisbon - Full day link

Day 5 - Lagos and Seville - Full day link

Day 6 - Gibraltar, Costa Del Sol, and Ronda - Full day link

Day 7 - Barcelona - Full day link

Day 8 - Barcelona, Margalef - Full day link

Day 9 - Madrid - Full day link

Whew. I don't know whether it's the increasing ease of capturing photos, my added emphasis on experience, or some combination of both. I ended up with over 7K photos for the trip - pared down to about 1,100 for this blog. And that still leaves some things out.

In all, 3,655 kilometers driven, countless kilometers walked (suppose I could track it next trip), much experienced and much learned. Will be processing everything for some time to come, and the blog actually helps that a lot.

Tentatively starting to plan next trip. Not sure where yet. Timeframe is late March to early April. Some candidates - Japan, Korea, Tailand - or Middle East/North Africa - or Southern Italy, Greece, Croatia. Yes the overall list is much longer but those are the ones at the top. I suppose how life unfolds over the next couple months will have a lot to do with what I end up doing. Looking forward to whatever it is.