RobinsonAdventures2023

  Robinson Australian Blog 2023   Friday, October 20 – Sunday, October 22   This is an unusual way to begin our trip to Australia. We flew from Toronto to New York City where we spent the weekend. We attended a party, a wedding and a memorial service during the weekend and we were very happy to be a part of each celebration.   Brent, brother of our daughter-in-law, Elaine was getting married to Nicola, a wonderful young woman from Brooklyn where Brent and Nicola live. Friday evening, they hosted a party for all the out of town guests. It was at a wonderful pub in Brooklyn and we enjoyed spending the evening with others who had also travelled from Toronto to be part of the weekend festivities.   Saturday was wedding day, held at an old industrial site, now transformed into an event venue. We arrived a bit before the ceremony and watched while the team of decorators put the final touches in place. There were at least a dozen people scurrying around, attending to f...

Hello Friends and Relatives Here we go again. This time our ultimate destination in Melbourne, Australia but, as you know, we never do anything the straightforward way. Our journey begins with a flight to New York city (Brooklyn, specifically) where we will attend a wedding and a memorial service for a friend who died one year ago. Then, we fly to Perth, Australia where we will spend a week exploring the world famous array of wildflowers that bloom in the spring (yes! it is spring in that part of the world. We are taking a formal tour for one day and then setting out in a camper van to explore independently. Then, we fly to Melbourne, finally reaching our home away from home. We arrive on a Friday afternoon and on Friday evening, a small group of friends will gather together and catch up on each other's news. It has been 5 years since we visited Australia but thanks to email and Zoom we have been able to stay in touch. It will be great to see them in person. Periodically, I will up...

Tuesday, June 27, 2023 Zagreb to Budapest   We got in the car about 10 am and … oops!! I discovered that a tiny tap with the front left corner of the car had done more damage than I thought it had. No one examining the car when we turn it in would miss the blue paint that had affixed itself firmly around the headlight and bumper. So we decided that we should address the problem before leaving Croatia. Fortunately there was a very helpful agent at the Enterprise office at the Zagreb airport. She knew exactly what we needed to do in terms of paper work and gave us an estimate of the cost to repair the damage. We are insured through our Mastercard and they have dealt with Mastercard many times with no issue. That was good news. (The side benefit of this unexpected stop was that we got to see the very modern Zagreb Airport. It is shaped like a flying saucer and has a large section at one end that looks very like a booster. It was an interesting and very bus y place.)   We left the...