2022

We still weren’t comfortable traveling at the beginning of 2022. COVID was still very present and traveling on a plane for long international flights was still “risky” in our books. 

By mid-May we were feeling more comfortable about venturing out, but so were many people world-wide. Flights were booked full, chaos at airports was in the headlines because of staff shortages, and hotels if available were charging outrageous prices. 
We’d wait and watch.

…until the end of May when a last minute promotion came up on Azamara (we’ve traveled on them a number of times) for the Norwegian fjords. Our thinking was that in Norway, we’d be hiking and doing things outdoors so the risk of COVID would be less. We had wanted to return to Norway as we were last there 36 years ago! 
You can read about our journey here. 
It was wonderful to be back traveling again. 

September was our annual Gerardin Family Gathering which is always so much fun.

In January 2022, we had booked a Mediterranean cruise on Seabourn (our favorite cruise line) for the first week in May. We were a little tentative about perhaps it still being “too early for us to travel”. In February Seabourn advised us the itinerary would be changed and reduced from 14 to 10 nights, and cutting out the ports that were the reason we had chosen that sailing. 
We were able to cancel the trip and they moved our deposits to another cruise of our choice and kindly offered us an additional 10% discount on the new itinerary. 

✈️ Istanbul 🇹🇷 & 🛳 🇬🇷 Aegean Sea 🏛 🏺 – We chose a 14 night Aegean Empires Itinerary round-trip from Istanbul. We had never been to Istanbul so we flew in 5 days prior to the departure to tour the city. The cruise itinerary only had Athens as a port that we had already visited. Many of the ports had UNESCO World Heritage sites so it was a heavy duty historical tour for us vs. lots of sea days to lol around. 
We studied the history of the sites that we would visit and reserved our excursions well in advance to be sure we didn’t miss out. 
It was really well organized. And it was wonderful to be back on Seabourn as they just provide amazing service on all aspects to their clients. 
You can read our about our journey here. 

Thanksgiving in November was a new venue as Gerry and I passed the baton to the younger Gerardin generations. Ariane and Stephen had just finished their remodel of their home in El Granada/Half Moon Bay and generously offered their home for the family to gather. 
It was super fun. Especially since the next generation handled the planning and delegated the food across those who volunteered. What a treat to show up with a prepared dish and enjoy visiting with all the family. 

The next weekend we returned to Half Moon Bay for a surprise 80th birthday party for Joe’s sister Suzanne. She didn’t have a clue and so was absolutely shocked. 

Click here to view them in reverse chronological entries for 2022.

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