Safe flight! Good luck with those suitcases!

Congratulations!

Looking forward to following along - it should be a fantastic trip. And I feel your pain re moving into a new construction, having experienced many, many, many delays and “deficiencies” in my recent move. Looks like you got a great place to come home to.

Oh goodie, you will be scribbling on the same continent as us by tomorrow. We wish you a marvellous tour and look forward to reading along with you daily.

Vincent, who took this photo, seems to spend every evening listening to live music and photographing the musicians.

To catch Colin on stage, you might have to go to Montréal. He plans to move there sometime this summer. It's a much bigger jazz scene, apparently.

Great photo, Jacquie. I’d like to hear him play sometime when we make it back that way.

I don't see my wife being enthusiastic about being left behind while I go gallivanting off to Europe. But I also don't see her being interesting in SAG and cooking duty.

Good luck in getting there in 2022- I hope you make it and have a fabulous adventure. Times are so uncertain, though,,, Personally I'm not going anywhere that requires a passport until this whole thing has calmed down for at least a year. That may not happen in my lifetime.

My husband and his riding buddies share responsibility and they seem to put together trips that tick their boxes. The only women invited are somebody’s sister who doesn’t ride but drives the support vehicle and her helper. She also prepares the lunches. The guys cover the costs of the driver and helper. I’m still envious almost 5 years on that my husband got to cycle in Italy (one of these trips) but I haven’t been able to yet. I’ll be very upset if 2022 doesn’t work out.

My wife isn't really a cyclist so much as a tourist willing to do a bit of cycling to get between hotels, provided someone else is carrying her luggage.

And I do not want the responsibility of selecting routes, intermediate stops, hotels, and so forth on behalf of other unsuspecting, innocent victims. :)

Our tours were not quite as deluxe as some truly commercial ones, but way more posh than a self-organized affair would likely be.

I just read your journal of your trip in Tuscany and it sounds like it was a fabulous time! Why not consider doing a self-planned trip with some tandem-riding friends? The Internet has made trip planning much easier than it was in the "old days".

I've always been good at math and never very good at art.

I'm not sure how much hill training I'll get before tackling Tuscany (should the trip not need to be cancelled again in 2022) as the long climbs here in North Vancouver lead to the local ski hills and are both too busy and too salty to ride until the skiing/snowshoeing season is over, typically mid-April.

Dratted covid. It contributed to the demise of the "organization" (is one couple an organization?) that put together the European tandem tours we'd enjoyed so much. After postponing their 2020 tour of Portugal, deferring it to 2021, then having to face kicking it further down the road, they've elected to pull the plug entirely.

Now the omicron variant (or as I call it, "omigod") has thrown a further wrench into the works. I hope your current plan can be carried out, without significant disruption, relay, rescheduling, or last-minute alteration.

Math and art are inextricably intertwined, so you should not feel that it's an either/or decision.

Our first tour in Italy was in 2008 (a fully-supported tandem-only affair) in Tuscany. If you're going to tackle the Stelvio then you need not worry about training for the Tuscan hills: you'll already have your climbing legs in shape. My journal from that trip ("Of Medieval Walls and Hilltop Towns") is still on another bike touring site and will remain there unless/until the site owner takes it down. At that point I may re-post it here- I've already prepared to do so should it become necessary.

Hey Jacquie, I am trying to send you an email but the address I have for you is not working. Can you email me at shadybrook@shaw.ca so I will receive your good address? Steve

Hi Jacquie. Whenever you are in Vancouver, let me know. Perhaps a ride and coffee? I think I have about three years of teaching left in me before my own retirement (early). Sue and I are looking forward to our tour next summer. We are both itching to get away on a tour, as I'm sure you are Al are. Take care.