Travelling, it leaves you speechless ...

This year's travel journal (the old fashioned paper sort) opens with the quote from Ibn Battuta, Moroccan adventurer and traveller ... " Travelling, it leaves you speechless, then turns you into a storyteller." 
Daily blogs and other electronic media don't allow enough time for real storytelling even if I had that ability. However I hope you will enjoy my photos and travel snippets over the coming months.

This year we decided to do something different with flights. They say Variety is the Spice of Life, and it has turned out that way for us. We decided to fly to Europe via Japan and what a bonus that was. Our very first upgrade! Although it was a night flight,  all that extra space was wonderful. Thanks JAL, I slept like a baby all night.

From Tokyo we flew with Iberia to Madrid and were lucky enough to both get window seats with a spare seat beside us.

It wasn't  long after leaving Japan that we started the long crossing over Russia and eventually Scandinavia. What a lot of flat barren land there is in this world. Glimpses of snow on the steppes added to the interest for us.

We arrived in Madrid ahead of time, made a seamless transfer to our apartment, and immediately went out to check out our home area for the next eight nights.

First reactions are that Madrid is impressive, architecturally stunning and charming. Our apartment in Huertas is everything we could hope for, and more!