Oh there’s no place like “_________” for the Holidays!

The sky is gray more often than not in Washington State’s Puget Sound these days. It’s a sure sign that summer is a fleeting memory and that – for us -  travel season is just around the corner. 

Seattle skyline - October 2014

While for many, these dark, dreary days are the prelude to upcoming holiday decorating and dinners – for us, it is the promise of new adventures.

J.W. Marriott - San Antonio, Texas, 2013

The ‘holiday season’ in the United States has a dual kick-off in October as December’s Christmas decorations (some actually appear in stores in July) are competing with Halloween for shelf space. Thanksgiving is simply scrunched in between the two at the end of November.

Coincidentally, travel season at our house is on the same schedule. . .we start talking winter travel in July and by October are ready to pack suitcases instead of unpacking decoration boxes.

San Antonio, Texas, 2013

This Traveling Twosome won’t be decking any halls this year. We’ll more likely be hanging hand-washed travel clothes than mistletoe and holly. 

As I’ve pointed out before, a travel lifestyle – sometimes requires the old traditions, like Christmas, give way to new adventures.

So our ‘season’ begins with an 'almost Thanksgiving' tradition – an old familiar favorite - a road trip to Arizona for a stay at our timeshare ‘desert home’.

The Mani - Greece

But after we return that’s when we’ll begin preparing for a real adventure and shake up our holiday routines but good! You might say we are practicing what we preach in this blog: we are traveling out of our tried-and-true destination comfort zones, stretching ourselves a bit and heading to a place. . .well, a place that three months ago wasn’t on our radar. Not. At. All.

The Mani - Greece

“How about ________________ for Christmas and New Year’s?” The Scout asked a few weeks ago.  He’d been researching and happened upon this destination. Chuckling a bit, we agreed that it would certainly be different – then we gave ourselves a couple days to think it over.  We finally used our age-old reasoning, “Why not?” And booked it!

Sunset - the South Pacific

As we’ve begun telling friends of our plans we’ve had two distinct reactions (there haven’t been any gray areas with this one): the first is an involuntary jerk of their heads and then a noticeable pause before asking either, “Why?” or “Where?” (perhaps hoping they hadn’t heard us correctly the first time).  Only a few have said, “Oh, I’ve always wanted to go there!”

The South Pacific

I’ve used a mix of photos in this post – they are all from previous trips as obviously I don’t have any to use to give you a hint of this new destination. And by now, you’ve probably realized I am not telling you our destination until next week. . . I’ve got to round up something suitable to use to illustrate that post. 

In the meantime, where would you go if you were to stretch yourself and go somewhere different? A stretch. . .some place that might have your friends asking, “Where!?!?”  

Welcome to our new followers and subscribers this week and thanks to all of you for your time ~ Happy Travels!

Linking Up this week at:
Travel Photo Thursday – Budget Traveler’s Sandbox 
Travel Inspiration – Reflections En Route 
Travel Photo Monday – Travel Photo Discovery 
Mosaic Monday – Lavender Cottage Gardening

Maui: Prisoners in Paradise

We are talking ‘captives’ not ‘captivating’ as we take you on a tour through a bit of history in Maui’s port town of Lahaina.

Banner over Lahaina's Main street 

This small town, the first capital of the Kingdom of Hawaii, is  now a hub of tourism on this Hawaiian island.

Once a busy whaling port and (sugar cane) plantation settlement, it continues to be a busy port town although it is day-tour boats and cruise ship tenders that ply the Pacific waters these days.

As you know a trademark of our travel lifestyle is to get off the beaten path – away from the tourist bustle – in this case, anywhere near the port.

We set off on foot as Lahaina is an easy walking town and just a few blocks away from this bee hive of commercialism we found ourselves strolling through a laid-back semi-residential neighborhood.

Soon we came to a road called “Prison Street”.  We followed it and found ourselves at . . ., you guessed it. . .a prison. A prison that is now an outdoor museum, that is.

Hale Pa’Ahao, which loosely translated means ‘stuck in irons’ was built by convict labor. In the late afternoon we found the entryway open – there was no admission charge and no one staffing the historic site. We had the place to ourselves.

 

(Note the sign says guardhouse and cells were rebuilt in 1959 – the same year Hawaii became a part of the United States, so one might assume from its worn interior today that it was still in use then.)

As far as prison grounds go, this one seemed rather comfortable (at least in is present state) with green lawn and trees.  But it was clear that comfort was left on the doorstep of that small building that housed the prisoners:

It appeared that it wasn’t just a place to ‘sleep off’  too much fun --  prisoners had rules. . .lots of rules, for example:

It’s unclear how long the place housed prisoners, but the cells and stockade were reconstructed, according to historical records, as part of the Works Progress Administration (WPA). And then there’s the plaque in the photo above says there was a rebuild in 1959. By 1967 the place was in a state of deterioration and the Lahaina Restoration Foundation developed a plan approved by the Historical Commission to save it.

Walls of coral border the old prison site

If only those coral walls that surround the prison could talk. . .

TRAVEL TIPS:
A number of airlines have direct flights from the Mainland US to Maui’s Kahului airport and there are several flights daily from Honolulu. You’ll need to hop the local bus or rent a car to get to Lahaina.

Stop by the Visitor’s Center (housed in Lahaina’s historic courthouse) footsteps from the harbor and take a tour of the Museum (in the same building) – entry here is also free but donations are welcome. While there pPick up a free copy of the Historic Walking Tour map and take a self-guided tour of the area’s  62 historical sites.  Bronze plaques at the sites give brief overviews of the historic significance.

The old prison, now considered an outdoor museum, is open daily from 10 a.m. – 4  p.m.

As always, we thank you  for spending time with us today. Hope to see you back again soon – bring a friend or two with you!

Linking with Judith's Mosaic Monday at Lavender Cottage Gardening

The Mani ~ The Greek Land of the Towers

From our room in the hotel on the hill in Kardamyli we looked out over the old town’s church and war tower. The two structures are prominent remains of the Troupakis Complex that dates back to the late 17th and early 18th centuries.

Legend has it that the family known as Troupakis were refugees from  Mystra (ancient inland city) when it fell to the Turks in 1461. The family lived in caves (called ‘troupas’ – thus their name) in the Taygetos Mountains behind Kardamyli before arriving here and building the family complex – now a treasured part of history.

The complex was a mesmerizing sight whether in the early morning sun, the mid-day’s blaze or in the evening shadows. The morning our summer sojourn in Greece came to an end, I took this photo from our deck.

I wanted to remember that tower the way it looked in that July’s morning sun.

I wanted to remember this enchanting history-laden Land of the Towers.

Troupakis Complex - Kardamyli, Greece

The Mani – in the north called the ‘Outer Mani’ and in the south the ‘Deep Mani’ – located in the southern part of the Peloponnese peninsula is the home of ancient towers. (Lovers of Italy’s San Gimignano’s towers in Tuscany would go nuts here!)

A drive through The Mani (the area is only four hours from Athens via freeway) takes one from olive grove-covered hills and gorges to barren, windswept hillsides on a narrow, lightly-traveled roadway.

You don’t travel far before spotting a tower on a far-away hill or in the midst of villages.

Often times the road slices through stone villages, the old stone buildings so close you could reach out and touch the walls.

A road trip here is guaranteed to offer surprises. Sometimes goats or cattle in the middle of the road, or stone tower towns so picture-perfect they simply don’t seem real.

Deep Mani Tower Town - Peloponnese

The towers played an important role in this area’s turbulent history. Some freestanding towers were built as village’s war towers and others served as both homes (in the lower level) and a tower for defense in the upper levels. First used when the Turks invaded; later they were used as local clans fought against each other.

Even today homes built here are constructed using the area’s stone. And some, (like the middle photo above and to the right below illustrate) are being built incorporating the tower design of old.

Old Tower on the left, new homes on the right

Towers, towers everywhere and most are well preserved.  Standing in the Troupakis Complex (which is a museum area now) in Kardamyli, I took the photo below back towards our hotel on the hill and yet another the tower just behind it. There was a time this harbor town served as Sparta's port.

Troupakis Complex - Kardamyli

IF YOU GO:

The Mani – a part of the Peloponnese peninsula which is generally thought of as mainland Greece and separated by the narrow width of the Corinth Canal.

There’s a modern divided freeway between the Athens Airport and Kalamata. From Kalamata the state road becomes a two-lane paved roadway. 

There are seasonal flights from various gateways in Europe to the Kalamata Airport and rental cars are available there as well as Athens.


I’ve mentioned ‘that hotel on the hill’ several times in recent posts. It became our home away from home this past summer and soon I’ll introduce you to the people who run it and our travel lifestyle there. Until then, we thank you for the time you spent with us and hope you enjoyed today’s journey. 

Happy – and safe - travels until we are together again ~

Joining in the fun at:
Travel Photo Thursday – Budget Travelers Sandbox
Weekend Travel Inspiration - Reflections En Route
Mosaic Monday – Lavender Cottage Gardening
Travel Photo Monday - Travel Photo Discovery

Travel IS a Lifestyle

This summer we missed the Sardine Festival in Agios Nikolaos (Saint Nicholas), a delightful coastal town in the Greek Peloponnese by two weeks because we’d returned to Kirkland,our Pacific Northwest home.

Waterfront Agios Nikolaos -Messinian Mani, Greece

We also missed Kirkland’s Fourth of July celebrations by two weeks – because we were in Greece.

“We travel not to escape life,

but for life to not escape us.”

          -- Unknown

A return from the grocery store in Kardamyli meant a walk through the olive grove

Approaching Athens

. . .While in Greece we missed a friend’s wedding in Kirkland. . .

. . .But back in Kirkland, Washington I missed the opportunity to go with a new friend ‘on a dig’ in archaeology-rich Greece. . .

We’ve come to accept these bits of mistimed happenstance because we’ve made travel our lifestyle.

It is no longer an isolated activity with defined start and stop dates – occurring once or twice a year as it did back in our ‘8 to 5’ workaday lives.

We’ve found that what we’ve missed in one place or another is more than compensated by what we have gained in terms of everyday life experiences elsewhere.  For example, had I not missed that Kirkland wedding, I wouldn’t have made a new friend in Kardamyli who wanted me to go on a dig with her.

Istanbul, Turkey street scene

“To travel is to live.”

                        -- Hans Christian Andersen

If you can dream it, you can do it. . .

The travel lifestyle is flexible:

The travel lifestyle isn’t always a well-thought out, predictable one. It is difficult to commit to events or activities too far distant. Our calendars are built around upcoming trips ~ always with enough wiggle room to take advantage of unplanned outings. . .those that blindside our brains with their utter spontaneity.



My friend Tina - hotelier in Pylos, Greece

Some friends wistfully ask, “Can you tell us how? We want to be like you.”

Others prefer to scold us, “You are never home!”
.
Yet others have asked, “Where do you live now?”

In fact, our travel lifestyle provides us many ‘homes’ - each with a sense of community and circle of friends. We are at ‘home’ in any number of places these days.

“Travel is more than the seeing of sights, it is a change that goes on,

deep and permanent in the ideas of living.”

-- Miriam Beard (1876 – 1958)

Adopting a travel lifestyle is really no different than taking up some other hobby – playing golf, gardening, joining a musical group, or creating handicrafts --  except it is a bit more encompassing and less of a single focus. From fashion to food, travel has an impact on our lifestyle. . .

Laundry day at 'home' in Loutro, Crete

Travel Lifestyles focus on fashion.

We have a different approach these days to clothing and fashion. Our wardrobe is selected in terms of how many places in the world could we wear the item, will it fit into the smallest of bags possible – and will we be able to carry the bag up or down a flight of stairs.

We think about:

* the weight and bulk a garment (or shoes!) will add to the suitcase,
*whether the decorative metal buttons and zippers will set off security alarms at airports (as have some of my Chico’s garments).
*the ease of cleaning (and drying time).

Bags are packed - leaving Nafpaktos, Greece

“One’s destination is never a place,

but a new way of seeing things.”

                   -- Henry Miller

Food and feasts. . .but, of course they are part of a Travel Lifestyle!



Restaurant window in Istanbul, Turkey

What traveler doesn’t look forward to the new foods awaiting in some new locale? (And in reality, what traveler doesn’t need to ‘go on the wagon’ after a trip to shed the pounds brought back like souvenirs?)

When travel becomes a lifestyle and any number of locations could be ‘home’ then it becomes necessary to watch the diet and exercise – we make exercise (the formal ‘go-to-the-gym’ kind) as routine as possible where ever we find ourselves.




We also eat ‘local’ which often means discovering new and wonderful tastes  -- poke, the marinated raw fish dishes in Hawaii, barbequed ribs in Arizona, fish and chips in London and moussaka in Greece – then looking forward to a return so that we can enjoy the flavors again.

Sushi in Maui, breakfast Porto Cayo, wine in Galaxidi, fruit in Ag. Roumeli, Greece, sushi, Hawaii

While our travel lifestyle keeps us living out of a suitcase for several months a year, we still maintain a ‘home base’ in the Pacific Northwest.  Unlike us there are some Americans (non military) who have packed up and chosen to live  – either full or part-time – in some country outside the United States. While there are no hard and fast figures, estimates range from 2.2 – 6.8 million such vagabonds.

  Where do you fall in the travel lifestyle spectrum?  Or, is travel a lifestyle for you?

 Travel is most rewarding when it ceases to be about your reaching a destination

and becomes indistinguishable from living your life.

                           --Paul Theroux

Again thanks for spending time with us. Welcome to our new subscribers and followers! And a big shout out to those of you who’ve shared our posts on Facebook and Twitter – or recommend us to others; we are always flattered when you think a post is worthy of sharing!

Linking up with and hope you'll stop by:
Budget Travelers Sandbox - Travel Photo Thursday
Reflections En Route - Weekend Travel Inspirations
Lavender Cottage Gardening - Mosaic Monday