5C's Que Pasa

On July 18th, 1987, which was an usually extremely hot & muggy afternoon in Vancouver, we exchanged wedding vows in a wonderful garden wedding. Where have those thirty three years gone? We certainly have had many adventures over the years, traveling to India (twice), Singapore, Malaysia, Antigua, plus we enjoyed annual vacations to Maui, Las Vegas as well as Cannon Beach, Oregon. After ten years our first set of doxies, Cloii and Carmeh, came into our lives which led to the purchase of our first RV. Only because of the girls did we purchase that RV. How could we leave them behind? This past March marked three years since we have had no fur babies in our life. The first year we spent ten days in Venice, the following year we enjoyed four weeks in Europe ( mostly in Italy including Naples, Pisa, the Amalfi Coast, Rome, Florence and Cinque Terre) followed by a visit to Nice as well as Monaco and a very special time in Barcelona before heading back home.  All of that led to our six weeks overseas this past year. That was a grand time what with visits to Athens followed by an Aegean cruise, days in Madrid, Cordoba, Granada, Seville, Marrakech, Porto and Lisbon. When we arrived in Porto, Colin asked if we could stay an extra few weeks. I said no because it would just be too much work to extend our airline reservation which was on points, not to mention finding other places to stay.  Had I known that Covid 19 was coming I would have done anything to extend our time abroad.

Before Colin I worked for Air Canada and did as much traveling as I could. Once married we did some trips because of Air Canada but eventually I retired and went to work with Colin in our company business.  Travel was in my bones and I soon infected Colin with that desire to travel.  Once we had the girls and the RV we were more than happy to be traveling together as a family and eventually we started travelling all of Mexico for a few years before settling in Acapulco and then Mazatlan and our beloved Isla.

One night at dinner on our honeymoon thirty three years ago, I pulled out two pens and two pieces of paper.  I asked Colin to write down the top ten places in the world that he would like to travel to in the years to come. I filled out my ten as well.  Over the years we have been to many of them. Last July on our 32nd anniversary as we sat with a glass of wine waiting for our dinner to be served I again pulled out pen and paper.  This time I suggested marking down the top three to five places he would like to visit while we could still travel. We both thought about it for a long while before putting pen to paper.

We did go out to dinner last night at the Italian Kitchen located here in the park. That way we could both have wine and only drive the golf cart. We enjoyed a bottle of Italian Trebbiano Tollo Cantina and were able to bring the leftover wine back home with us.

In July of 1987 as well as last July of 2019 we both had the same number one destination.  Where was that destination?  So we talked about it, I researched it and despite the high cost we booked the trip. I mean how could we not go. It was our number one choice since we have been married. That was the mysterious trip we were taking this coming October. The plan was for us to leave home the end of September, certainly no later than October 3rd. We would drive the RV to our favourite RV park in Las Vegas and book it for a full month ( it still is booked ). After a few days of rest we would board a flight on October 12th and return on October 30th. We would then get over our jet lag, shop for winter wine and when ready we would continue on to the Isla for five months.  While there we would make travel plans for 2021.

So the big reveal, our number one travel destination for 33 years – Egypt! We even had a seven night Nile cruise booked. All very expensive but why not considering how long we have been wanting to visit Egypt.  Number two on each of our lists was Myanmar which we might have done in 2021.  I needed to be in fairly good shape to do the walking required.  Needless to say my knee surgery was not expected but I did work diligently on my exercises and have continued  working hard to make the trip happen.  Now this horrific pandemic has taken our dream away.

Of course we had a tour package booked as it really is not at all practical to try and visit Egypt on your own, although some do. We had planned to arrive three days early to get over our jet lag so that we could enjoy every moment. And if that meant that we could visit the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, Egypt more than twice, why not? Who doesn’t want to see the 1000s of objects recovered from Tutankhamen’s tomb? At the moment the tour company has cancelled all of their world wide trips until the end of September. We knew what was coming because of Covid-19. So when the tour company offered us to move our non refundable deposit to book for the same trip in 2021 or even 2022 we did. Already October of 2021 was 98% full so we chose a date.  The best news was that we did not have to put down any more money.  The total final amount owing was last week and we did have to make a decision so that we would not have to lose any more money. Now we can coast for a year on our original deposit.

We asked to sit on the patio and the tables were well spaced out. I was surprised that our server was not wearing a mask, not even when opening and pouring the wine. We then told her that we would just serve ourselves wine as needed. I did notice the other two servers were wearing masks and when asked I was told that it was necessary when serving food.

This girl and the other delivered plates, bread, oil and vinegar and water, all the while wearing a mask. They also did bring our pasta to us.  For the most part we felt comfortable eating out on the patio.

Fortunately our lovely hotel in Cairo, where we had a room booked overlooking the Nile, gave us our non refundable money back.  It only took one simple email. Our greatest concern was the cost of the airfare from Las Vegas to Cairo and return.  I knew enough that I had to wait for the airline to cancel first.  They did so last week. Even though our flight was non refundable, we will get a full refund to our credit card. I am so relieved as we don’t want a credit on Lufthansa to use by the end of 2021. It took me over three weeks to get the perfect flights for us.  We don’t like sitting three and three on flights and somehow I managed for us to get seats for only two in the row on each leg of the journey.  There were one or two short legs that we would have sat across the aisle from each other.  Who knows if I will ever be able to replicate those flights or even what airlines will be flying next fall?  So happy to have the money coming back – sometime within the next two months.  Worst case scenario, if we never get to Egypt, we will only be out a total of $600.00USD.

We both ordered the lobster pasta linguine with fresh asparagus, mushrooms and more. I asked for mine to be served with penne.

None of us know what the future will hold but I have a feeling that we will never get to Egypt.  I hope so but I refuse ( I can’t as I am claustrophobic and even being on a plane is stressful for me ) to wear a mask the entire flight nor spend my tour wearing a mask. Plus who knows how long I will be able to mange the amount of uphill walking required. So we take it day by day and are simply happy to be together. We are enjoying nature as it passes by, such as our local bald eagle taking a slow and low flight over the lake a few hours ago.

We just couldn’t say no to a complimentary chocolate mousse dessert for our anniversary. The entire meal was perfect and the food incredible.

Once we got home Colin surprised me with a very special card and this chocolate. Everyone has to try this. The raspberry and the dark chocolate are magnificent.

Looking forward to trying this wine.

As well as this one. Colin spoilt me this anniversary. We usually don’t do anything other than go out for dinner but then last year I spoilt him. Life is to be enjoyed.