Latest News First...Of travel by land and air

Let's start with the latest news first: we have our tickets for the US this summer. We leave July 27 and return August 30. Family reunions are planned for both sides of the family, first Abbie's family, then later in August for my family, when Mom celebrates her 90th birthday. Somewhere in between, we'll celebrate our 40th wedding anniversary.

These are the most expensive tickets we've ever bought...something on the order of US$1600 each (ouch!). For one thing we're travelling in the high season, rather than going a month or so earlier and just catching the lower rates of the shoulder season. Secondly, I can appreciate what it must cost to pull one of those large passenger jets up to the pump and say, "Fill 'er up!" Gasoline just went to 1.41 euros a litre here, so the last time I filled up it cost me 60 euros. In US lingo: $6.85 a gallon, $77.50 a fill-up (at current exchange rates...the dollar has dropped). At those prices, the $1600 airline ticket is still cheaper than driving my Opel to the US and back.