Ten euros for a beer! I wonder if that's just airport pricing.

You guys really like to live on the edge. Glad you made your flight. Scott, get Rachael to staple those glasses to your head, eh?

And when you do, Scott, we’ll supply a fine bottle of Nero d’Avola!

Well John, if you can comment multiple times I can too. I’ll try to bring a bit more variety to the table though. I went back to CGOAB and was reminded that you’re from Vancouver Island, like nearly half of the folks on here it seems. What is it with British Columbia and bike touring, anyway? One of these times we’re going to have to plan a trip up your way and stop in to visit a few folks.

Wow - 5 comments! I’ll save myself a bit of time and just respond to one. Thanks for your well wishes; we are so excited to finally be on the way, and to be landing in Chania before long. Before we visited Sicily we swore that Greece was the best place we’d ever been. Sicily has been on my mind a lot lately because my sister is there now on a two week Road Scholar tour of the highlights. She’s been sending daily posts to the family, and is obviously having a great time.

I’m so glad you two were able to make it over there; and rain or not, I think spring must be the best time if you’re on a bike. A friend of ours biked there in autumn, and found it too hot.

Hi Scott and Rachael,
We want to send you off with our best wishes for a wonderful trip - and a great blog so that we can emulate it one day!
In the meantime, huge thanks for the inspiration and information that helped us have a great tour of Sicily! We followed an abbreviated version of your route (just twenty days of riding) but used your gps routes whenever we could (we only got lost when we thought we had a better idea) and enjoyed your observations more and more as we came to make some sense of that amazing island. We talked about you two daily; as in “Did S & R have to get off on this hill?” Or “I can’t believe S&R never take a day off!”
It was unseasonably cold in Europe this spring and the first two weeks of our trip were cool and wet and windy, but by Easter things dried and warmed up and we were able to ride less anxiously and with fewer worried glances skyward. So, in general, March is a pretty good time to be there. (Of course the wildflowers were astounding and the green hills and valleys of the interior were breathtaking.)
So again, many thanks and all the best on this adventure!
Cheers,
John and Chris

Hi Scott and Rachael,
We want to send you off with our best wishes for a wonderful trip - and a great blog so that we can emulate it one day!
In the meantime, huge thanks for the inspiration and information that helped us have a great tour of Sicily! We followed an abbreviated version of your route (just twenty days of riding) but used your gps routes whenever we could (we only got lost when we thought we had a better idea) and enjoyed your observations more and more as we came to make some sense of that amazing island. We talked about you two daily; as in “Did S & R have to get off on this hill?” Or “I can’t believe S&R never take a day off!”
It was unseasonably cold in Europe this spring and the first two weeks of our trip were cool and wet and windy, but by Easter things dried and warmed up and we were able to ride less anxiously and with fewer worried glances skyward. So, in general, March is a pretty good time to be there. (Of course the wildflowers were astounding and the green hills and valleys of the interior were breathtaking.)
So again, many thanks and all the best on this adventure!
Cheers,
John and Chris

Hi Scott and Rachael,
We want to send you off with our best wishes for a wonderful trip - and a great blog so that we can emulate it one day!
In the meantime, huge thanks for the inspiration and information that helped us have a great tour of Sicily! We followed an abbreviated version of your route (just twenty days of riding) but used your gps routes whenever we could (we only got lost when we thought we had a better idea) and enjoyed your observations more and more as we came to make some sense of that amazing island. We talked about you two daily; as in “Did S & R have to get off on this hill?” Or “I can’t believe S&R never take a day off!”
It was unseasonably cold in Europe this spring and the first two weeks of our trip were cool and wet and windy, but by Easter things dried and warmed up and we were able to ride less anxiously and with fewer worried glances skyward. So, in general, March is a pretty good time to be there. (Of course the wildflowers were astounding and the green hills and valleys of the interior were breathtaking.)
So again, many thanks and all the best on this adventure!
Cheers,
John and Chris

Hi Scott and Rachael,
We want to send you off with our best wishes for a wonderful trip - and a great blog so that we can emulate it one day!
In the meantime, huge thanks for the inspiration and information that helped us have a great tour of Sicily! We followed an abbreviated version of your route (just twenty days of riding) but used your gps routes whenever we could (we only got lost when we thought we had a better idea) and enjoyed your observations more and more as we came to make some sense of that amazing island. We talked about you two daily; as in “Did S & R have to get off on this hill?” Or “I can’t believe S&R never take a day off!”
It was unseasonably cold in Europe this spring and the first two weeks of our trip were cool and wet and windy, but by Easter things dried and warmed up and we were able to ride less anxiously and with fewer worried glances skyward. So, in general, March is a pretty good time to be there. (Of course the wildflowers were astounding and the green hills and valleys of the interior were breathtaking.)
So again, many thanks and all the best on this adventure!
Cheers,
John and Chris

Hi Scott and Rachael,
We want to send you off with our best wishes for a wonderful trip - and a great blog so that we can emulate it one day!
In the meantime, huge thanks for the inspiration and information that helped us have a great tour of Sicily! We followed an abbreviated version of your route (just twenty days of riding) but used your gps routes whenever we could (we only got lost when we thought we had a better idea) and enjoyed your observations more and more as we came to make some sense of that amazing island. We talked about you two daily; as in “Did S & R have to get off on this hill?” Or “I can’t believe S&R never take a day off!”
It was unseasonably cold in Europe this spring and the first two weeks of our trip were cool and wet and windy, but by Easter things dried and warmed up and we were able to ride less anxiously and with fewer worried glances skyward. So, in general, March is a pretty good time to be there. (Of course the wildflowers were astounding and the green hills and valleys of the interior were breathtaking.)
So again, many thanks and all the best on this adventure!
Cheers,
John and Chris

Thanks, Steve. It seems like it’s been such a long time coming and it’s hard to quite believe it’s here. We’ll do our best to show you a good time.

A great pre-journal; a perfect combination of explaining how involved it is to downsize the way you have and taking long rides around beautiful Portland. I really enjoy your relaxed style of writing and your photos are wonderful as well. I'm looking forward to following you on your trip. I'm sure it will be a good one.

Bon voyage you two. We look forward to reading about your Greek adventures, since it is a country that has long been on our bucket list. Have a terrific time.

Good luck you guys, have a great trip! I'm looking forward to riding vicariously with you.

Hi, Kathleen. Thanks for following along! I’m embarrassed to say that I wasn’t familiar with you and Keith before now, until I looked you up on CGOAB last night. What an awful accident you had last year, and how impressive that you’re back in the saddle again so soon. If we’re ever in the same place at the same time, you, Dodie and Rocky should compare notes on your mishaps.

How kind of you to propose to meet up and offer to host us. You’re right, Victoria is wonderful cycling country. We’ve been up that way a few times, but it’s been far too long. We’d love to get together sometime, but it won’t be this summer. We’re going to Canada for a month, but it’s all in the interior; and we’ve scheduled ourselves too tight to have room for a detour to the coast. One of these years, for sure.

What about yourselves? Is there