VACATIONS FROM HOME: 2023 IN REVIEW

WHERE WERE WE?
Where were we?

Last year we traveled well. We visited 5 countries, a couple of trips in the United States and still managed to be homebodies for a few months. After a while though the trips can blur from one to another, and without a review like this we will look back on 2023 and wonder “where were we?”

So, to help jog our memory for some future conversation here is where we traveled last year.

ENGLAND (twice)

All you followers of this sometimes-tedious blog know Janet’s grandchildren live in Nantwich, Chesire and we try to see them at least once a year.

(Is it cheating to say this is one of the “foreign countries” we visited last year?)

Well, though it is a family sojourn whenever we visit England, we also try to piggyback from there to some other destination in Europe; Ryan Air offers some incredibly cheap flights to the continent.

We have also traveled within the UK while there. We visited Edinburgh, Scotland before flying off to Belgium. We’ve taken day trips to Liverpool, Chester, York, Lancaster and the Lake District, where we took a leisurely boat ride on the largest lake in England, Windermere. This year we took a day trip to the beautiful Welsh town Llangollen.

RYAN AIR

Christmas in England

Our first trip to England last year had us in Nantwich for the Christmas holiday. It had been a LONG time since we had kids desperately pounding on the bedroom door to awaken us for presents!!!

After the New Year we took a Ryan Air flight to Budapest, Hungary for a week-long trip.

BUDAPEST
Budapest Parliament

We basically chose to visit this beautiful city in Central Europe because it sounded like an exotic place to visit. We hired a 1 ½ day private tour with Andrea Makkay and saw a lot of this capital city that was once part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

With thermal spring bathing facilities all over the city on both sides of the Danube (the twin cities of Buda and Pest were conjoined when the Chain Bridge opened connecting them finally) there was an unexpected charm to Budapest.

We expected dour Soviet era dreariness, but learned quickly the nightlife, including the Ruin Bars that are in the Jewish Ghetto, and our favorite, the Tuktuk Bar, was lively. Budapest is a popular "Hen-do" destination.

Széchenyi Thermal Baths

We bathed at the outdoor Széchenyi Thermal Baths and ate a lot of goulash. We attended a performance of Der Fledermaus at the Hungarian Opera. I learned that my last name, DUNAJ, means “from the Danube River area”. Duna is the Hungarian name for the storied river.

Who knew?

ANDREA MAKKAY BUDAPEST TOUR GUIDE

TUKTUK BAR BUDAPEST

BASEBALL

After our quick start to the year, we settled into the routine of home life for three months. We did manage to attend a Phillies baseball game in April.

Even though Luis Arraez of the Marlins hit for the cycle that game, we were more concerned with getting another hot dog on “Dollar Dog Night” at Citizens Bank Park.

(Janet took a dozen home.)

Our first date was on March 31, 2006. We consider that date as our anniversary, even though we finally married in 2018. I contacted the Phillies for a celebratory message to Janet on the scoreboard that day.

CURACAO

We traveled in May to Curacao, part of the “ABC” islands of Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao”, just off the coast of South America. It was another Sandals vacation, our fifth since our honeymoon in 2018.

Willemstad, Curacao

The scuba diving in this part of the world is phenomenal and we managed to go out for five of our eight days at the all-inclusive resort. We also hired a local taxi driver to take us around the island and we saw or swam at some beautiful beaches and had lunch in the colorful capital Willemstad.

We hired Ida, her number is +599 9 522 4488. She is also on WhatsApp.

On the way home we stopped in Redington Beach, Florida for a few days to attend a family wedding.

Later that month we partied with friends in their Lewes Delaware home for the Memorial Day weekend.

PHILADELPHIA

McGillin's

In true “Vacations From Home” fashion we entertained friends from upstate New York and explored Center City Philadelphia. It proved to be the hottest day of the year, so our entire excursion was planned around shady spots to get a drink. We met our friends in Sandals Grenada. They also stayed in Curacao while we were there, and later in the year we met up again in Barbados.

HOUSE SITTING

Sometimes you need to pay the piper. Janet’s brother and his family have been watching our dog while we travel. So, when they took an extended family trip in July, we watched their house and their dogs. We were very glad to do this, even though they refused to put in a pool just for us.

ENGLAND (summer)

We traveled again to England during the final two weeks of the grandchildren’s summer recess. We did the previously mentioned day trip to Llangollen, Wales and were also lucky enough to wade through the well-attended Nantwich Food Festival.

By the way, they talk funny in Wales.

Llangollen, Wales

SEVILLE, SPAIN

Another piggyback trip to this historic city in Andalusia. We spent a week there eating tapas and drinking Tinto Verano (red wine and lemonade) and discovered Oloroso, an aged dry sherry. We took a cooking class in Triana and had an apartment in the old Jewish quarter, Santa Cruz, that overlooked the Alcazar gardens.

We went on two one-day trips while there. We took a train and had a private tour of Cordoba and rented a car and drove to see the dramatic cliffs of Ronda.

our view in Seville

Our tour guide in Cordoba was Isabel Martinez Richter. She was enthusiastic and thorough and made our relatively short time in Cordoba fun and informative.

If you’d like to book her here’s her contact information: (+34 669 645, Isabmr@gmail.com )

SARATOGA SPRINGS

Our Sandals companions returned the favor and hosted us at their place in upstate New York for a weekend of drinking in Saratoga Spings. Considered the drunkest city in New York, we sipped a lot of bourbon and a lot of surprisingly great craft beers. Our friend makes a very good, if dangerous, margarita!

craft beer in upstate NY

THE DRUNKEST TOWN IN NEW YORK

BARBADOS

Now, you may think it’s overly extravagant that we went on a second Sandals trip in one calendar year, but there’s a reason for it. COVID disrupted our travel plans and the trip we had planned in 2020 did not happen. Instead of our preferred time slot of early December, which by the way is a cheaper time to travel, we were pushed to May.

After two years of traveling to a Sandals resort in May, we decided to get back to the December schedule. You get a discount whenever you book your next Sandals trip while at the resort, so we decided to book TWO trips in 2023. Makes sense doesn’t it.