Bàdu Travel
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The Euro~Anniversaire Trip: August 15 -September 2, 2015

Hello All,
It's been quite a hiatus I've taken from blogging! Hence this blog post is retrospective at best when I am once again being bitten by the travel bug only to realize I never documented the previous trips. Given that I am somewhat a 'fly by the pants' type of girl when it comes to traveling, this trip was coordinated in less than a month with the help of a wonderful Expedia Travel representative when I realized coordination wasn't going as envisioned.

After receipt of damning medical news from my physician in June, my better half essentially announced: - "Babe we are going to Greece!" Life is short Hun and contrary to what we envisioned on our wedding day, who knows what tomorrow holds?! ... and Voila! Thereon began a scramble to put everything together! Greece has ALWAYS BEEN ON MY BUCKET LIST since Junior High school so it was no coincidence since I had dropped the hints several times. Of course, if we were going to make it to Greece, would it not make sense to fashionably explore the hubbub of Europe (i.e. London and Paris) while we were at it! 
We only had approximately 2 weeks off hence we tried to pack as many destinations and activities as was humanly possible into this trip. We started off in Appleton, WI for my cousin-cum-sister's 40th Parisian theme Birthday bash (oh how apropos)! From there, we attempted to make a mad dash back to Maryland to finish packing for our flight to London the next day. Alas! mad it was, dash it wasn't given the fact that we missed our flight and ended up spending 12 hours at the Atlanta airport thanks to Delta airlines for wrong gate notifications such that by the time we dashed over to the correct gate wheezing like a stuffed exhaust pipe, the irritating agents would not let us board despite being 10 minutes early because the slick twits had overbooked the flight anyways. It was beyond frustrating and eventually after some threats, ended up on a 8pm flight to Reagan National DC instead of BWI airport. Fortunately, we managed to get a ride to BWI to retrieve our cars and trudge home wearily with the hope that our trans-Atlantic flight the next day would not be this manic! 

Thank God it wasn't! However, the mayhem, jet lag and medication led to painful ankle edema that made walking harder and me groaning in my head about why the heck the path from disembarkation to Heathrow airport immigration check point had to be built like 3 miles away from point of disembarkation! Either way I was too excited given this was my first time in London. My husband had been several times; for that I was grateful because all the bus and train fares we had to purchase simply went over my head. I was simply there to be a pretty flower on his arm while he worked out the logistics. LOL! Obviously I discovered how foolhardy I'd been dressing up in my tight cobalt blue jeans, teeny puff sleeve jacket with my Hermès Birkin bag dangling off my fore-arm like I had not a care in the world. I almost did an about face when that dreary, cold weather slapped me in the face as we stepped outside with me shivering like a drenched chicken! Couldn't believe my friend in Scotland had the nerve to tell me it was nice weather up in London but then again...I guess we are comparing apples to oranges here when my tropical bunny tail should have known! The only salvation was that we crossing the channel in two days to spend our anniversary day in Paris where I could lounge in a romantic rooftop restaurant in full view of the Eiffel tower with my 'Michelle Obama arms' barred in my lovely outfit obtained from Afua Sam of Studio D'maxsi couture. Mind you, I had been fanatically working out for a month with a personal trainer and on my own in order to fit this outfit so that goes to show I was serious about warm weather!
I have to summarize my "take home" points for each port of call lest I drone on about the myriad experiences and blessings I enjoyed on this fabulous trip. 

Absolutely loving Europe - 
ENGLAND 
1. This UK "summer" weather is too chilly & temperamental for this tropical bunny "innit"?!
2. Time spent with old friends- Priceless 
3. Historical architecture & design - exemplary!

FRANCE
1. Can I say I LOVE PARIS !! (..the ambience, the busy streets, the sidewalk cafés especially, the Eurostar underwater Chanel that connected us from London..so many new experiences )
2. Gorging up on crepes & croissants- this is a sad state of affairs
3. The famous couture houses ... Hmmm .. I'll have to beg the hunnybunz even harder for a detour- who knows what I might find @C.Loubiton
4. FOOT KILLER DAY - Versailles is a beauty to behold but an incomprehensible money drain-- gold tipped gates, roofs.. Wouldn't have wanted to be a peasant working that land..IJS
5. Finally the famous Eiffel Tower..
6. Arc de' Triumph
7. Shopping
8. Can a homo sapien suffer from crepe overload (from the sweet--> savory )! Whewww Lord! Please forgive the gluttony.. You KNOW I won't find this roadside vendor in the US!

VENICE 
1. Lovely & picturesque town coupled with beautiful weather
2. Canal Water did not stink as bad as I was expecting Aminah Ali
3. Got lost finding the San Marco piazza in the winding alleys, so considering a 1hr walk vs. SIT & sample gelato..

THE MEDITERRANEAN (via the Norwegian Jade cruise line)
Corfu ➡️ Santorini ➡️ Mykonos ➡️ Olympia For romantics like me, this Greek Islands cruise was simply phenomenal!
1. Gorgeous! Divine! Hot! -- my kind of weather! 
2. Prime dreamy Bàdu locales that'll serve as great design inspirations - Absolutely!!
3. Onset of serious Lifestyle Modification- This is easy when you have an accessible Gym & a "hands on deck" chef! Trying to prove the hubby wrong- I can work out on the sea; even if I wasn't doing as much on land ! 
4. Sad- the vacation is almost over- last day in port today
5. Back to the chaotic Venice airport to fly back to our daily lives even as we appreciate the mystique of the various ports of call we were privileged to visit.

Life is short and time flies indeed when we are having fun. However, even as we discover newer facets about each other in this JOURNEY CALLED LIFE, we keep God at the head of this triad! ! Our Faith declares that #GodisinControl ! So we #SiezeEachDay#livestrong #CountingMyBlessings & #LoveStrong