More to come. Stay tuned.

Traveling with Cristina. It’s delightful. Really. She has her idiosyncrasies. So do I. Let’s call them offsetting.  We’re peculiar people. Who happen to travel well together. Wasn’t always that way.  We traveled alone. Even to faraway places. Such as Cristina bravely taking off for an African Safari and the fjords of Norway and New York City – all by her lonesome self. She’s far more daring than I.  Fortunately, she knows how to bolster my courage. Gives me much-needed balance. I do much the same. For Cristina. In other miraculous ways. Yes. Yes. We are good for each other. She’s especially good for me. And I know it.  She dares me to take chances. Little wonder. That she’s my second true love. Ever.  Smitten. Right from the beginning. Cristina picks and plans for places to stay. Within our budget, of course. Cristina knows how to and when to steer us off the unplanned beaten track. She’d make a good travel agent.  Meanwhile, she’s my trusted companion. She’s adapted well to traveling with me. No small feat. Or is it that I‘ve adapted? To playing the role of Cristina’s student. Very willingly. After all, she’s one of the best teachers in the Italian school system.  No doubt about it. Cristina has taught me not only about travel. But about life. Like me, she’s a romantic idealist. A godsend. Entering my life after dear wife Jeanne died of Alzheimer’s. Cristina was there. Her mother had Alzheimer’s. We met on the Alzheimer’s message boards. The rest is history. We‘ve been flitting back and forth. Ever since. Between Italy and America and other exotic places. In our search for happiness. We found it. In each other. We have returned to our homelands. For now. After an exciting and invigorating 15 days in France. More to come. Stay tuned. I’m back. --Jim Broede