Preparations begin !

Is it really only 21 degrees F. here ?  When can we get on that plane to Sicily ? (Saturday !!)

This winter's trip will take us around the beautiful island of Sicily, then onward to Spain.  We'll be gone for about 11  weeks...woohoo !

I've made sure we have all of our prescriptions, the paper has been canceled, the mail has been forwarded to my sister (thanks, Lori !), the county taxes have been paid early, the bank and credit card companies have been notified, our ATM cards work properly, all our monthly bills have been placed on automatic withdrawal, the computers are set up for Netflix (with a new VPN - whatever that is...)...what else ?  I've gone for a my "Italian hair" appointment: I have one more trip to the dentist...I've shopped for new clothes (a necessity for a trip !), and the suitcases have been brought up from the basement...phew !

We'll fly out of Buffalo on United Airlines to Newark (I hate Newark, but when you're traveling on air miles for free, you have to go where they send you...), then to Milan. We'll take the budget airline Easyjet to Palermo, pick up the rental car, and go to our first stop - Castellammare del Golfo.  After a week there, we travel to the Lemon Tree apartments outside of Taormina for a month.  It will be our third trip to the Lemon Tree, and we're looking forward to seeing the owners again.

While in Taormina, my sister and her husband, her husband's brother and his wife, and my brother and his wife, and one of our sons and his girlfriend will join us for 10 days...We have a "road trip" planned for everyone to Piazza Armerina and Agrigento...have you seen the "Griswold" movies ??   Should be fun !

After Taormina, it's onward to Ragusa Ibla, Castelbuono, Cefalu, and back to Palermo where we jet off to Barcelona...

Stay tuned....