Reflections from the writer

It's been two months since I started this project. Momentum slowed for a bit while I moved from Pittsburgh to Philadelphia, helped open a yoga studio, and was busy in the turmoil of familial wedding celebrations.

But now I'm back. So far I've transcribed four of 13 trips my Grandma kept records of. I haven't even begun to delve into the hundreds of pages worth of itineraries my Grandfather kept. It's amazing seeing how detailed their trips were - from their itineraries, to their record-keeping of expenses, to the large number of contacts they gathered when meeting strangers, to the letters they wrote to those strangers, and also to the maps and visitors' guides to everywhere they went. Wow.

Sometimes I don't know where to begin with all of the stuff after my Grandma's journals, so I'll keep transcribing her words and I imagine I'll know what to do with the rest when the time comes. I'm so intrigued by my Grandmother's attention to detail in these journals. I find myself laughing out loud to some of her descriptions, while others make me heartsick (For instance, my Grandmother's description of the terrorist attacks in their 2001 trip soon after 9/11).

I hope to someday (very soon) dive into the photo aspect of this project - beginning to collect, gather and coordinate photographs from these trips. I know they exist somewhere!!

In the mean time, we have these trips to look forward to...

• UK Trip: August 6, 1985 – September 2, 1985
• Netherlands Trip: April 22, 1991 – May 6, 1991
• Germany trip: November 1, 1993 – November 17, 1993
• England/Europe trip: September 19, 1994 – October 4, 1994
• Washington State, Idaho and Canada trip: September 1, 1995 – September 14, 1995
• Italy: October 7, 1996 – October 28, 1996
• Holland/Eastern Caribbean Cruise: March 21, 1998 – March 28, 1998
• France trip: September 13, 1999 – October 6, 1999
• Ireland: October 27, 2000 – November 9, 2000

{P.S. You can find this blog on twitter! @lifesabike}