| | Our Odyssey 1993 onward | Well, it's long story... but it all started in 1993 when Audre got a contract for a World Bank project in Indonesia - that was the beginning of our Odyssey or worldwide travelling or vagabond globetrotting... call it what you will.
A year and half later, Dimitri planned a 9-month trip from Jakarta to Istanbul. It was supposed to be just an interlude between contracts. However, six months into that trip, while meditating on top on Mount Sinai, Audre saw the light! A couple of weeks earlier, Dimitri had calculated that we could most probably live on just the appreciation on our mutual funds (without touching the capital) and had proposed retirement to Audre's initial shock and dismay. So, on Mount Sinai, Audre got the message from above that it is perfectly okay to retire and go travelling throughout the world at 49 (Audre) and 54 (Dimitri). And the rest is history...
The general organization is something like this:
Indonesia and surrounding areas
9-month trip from Indonesia to Turkey
Skiing in the Alps (Italy and France) and summer trips
Onward to present time
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Audre & Dimitri from 1989 to 1993
Dimitri from 1941 to 1989
Audre from 1946 to 1989
CLICK HERE FOR OUR NEWEST BLOG ADDITION: Audre & Dimitri's Traveling Love Affair
CLICK HERE FOR A MORE DETAILED ACCOUNT OF OUR MEANDERING LIFESTYLE AS REPORTED BY:
El Commercio (Peru)
China Daily
Vail Daily 1 of 2
Vail Daily 2 of 2
AND FOR THE NEWEST ADDITION HERE IS A LINK TO OUR FIRST BOOK Eating Beijing Book Preview AND it's eBook version |
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| | Australia, 5 & 8-1994 | | The World Bank contract gave us an all-expense paid holiday in 8-94. We chose to go to Australia and New Zealand. |
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| | India, 2 & 3-1995 | | Our first trip to India: The Golden Triangle and Heli-skiing in the Himalayas! |
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| | Vietnam, 7 & 8-1995 | | We spent a month traveling from Saigon to Hanoi in 1995. We think that Vietnam has been over-hyped. In Saigon we stayed in Cholon-where the movie The Lover was made-Dong Khanh Int'l Hotel, 2 Tran Hung Dao B Blvd. Dist. 5, HCM City Tel. (848)352-410, Fax:352-427. We ran with the Hash House Harriers. Saigon is not scenic or charming. City Hall and the PO, as well as a handful of villas, are architecturally interesting. Otherwise, not at all. It is noisey (with horns and old engines), very dirty and decrepit and poor. There were more churches than we expected, less cars and more bicycles and scooters. There is a miniature business every 10 feet (bike repair, etc.). The weather was hot and almost everyday it rained. The restaurants were good. Sitting out is common but the exhaust fumes were chocking. There were many new hotels but the prices were high. |
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| | Hong Kong, 8-1995 | | When our Vietnamese visa expired and they would not renew them, we hopped from Hanoi to Hong Kong. We had a blast and ate well too! |
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| | Maldives, 12-1995 | | We're glad that we went to the Maldives but the snorkeling wasn't great and finding the right island hotel is a challenge. We stayed at two. When we found the Banyan Tree and were very happy there. |
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| | Summer 2001 UK | | Our UK summer started out with a little hop over to Italy for the obligatory 3-year car inspection, then some Loire valley, and Paris. At our first stop in southern England, we experienced a very hot summer. Even though our hotels were gaggingly expensive, none had air conditioning (not really anyway). "Just don't need it," they say. "Yeah, right". As we headed north it got cooler and we could sleep without air conditioning. Unfortunately, it quickly got very cold and cloudy and rainy - a typical English "summer". We will remember the year 2001 as being the one with the two winters in a row! |
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| | Winter 2001-02 Val d'Isère | | Our second ski season in Val d'Isère could well become our worst snow-condition winter of our 6 seasons in the Alps... Pray for snow!!! |
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| | 2004 Australia | | A year and a gigantic road trip gives us a feeling for the vastness and emptiness of this country. We loved seeing it all and having a wonderful social life in Sydney with Dimitri's school friends from Egypt. We did great biking in Melbourne and Adelaide and many other places as well and we met fabulous, big-hearted people. |
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| | 2005 USA | | Our trip to the USA for Jackie Weisman's wedding was filled with loving reunions with family and friends, as well as nostalgia, stress and eye-popping discoveries of modernity. |
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| | Tahiti 6 to 9-2005 | | Tahiti conjures up dreams. There are wonderful things and not so wonderful things; definitely not the paradise that French propaganda has portrayed. There aren't any beaches to speak of, for instance. There are gorgeous verdant mountains going into the turquoise sea of the reef-protected lagoon. The people look like Hawaiians and the music sounds Hawaiian too (that's good). The people speak French (that's good) and they have acquired the French ouvriers attitude (that's bad). |
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| | 2005-6 New Zealand | | Back to NZ to continue our tour. A very apt climate description which could apply to anywhere in NZ: "The Catlins has it all when it comes to weather. Rainy days bring to life the rivers, waterfalls and forests. Strong winds shape the edges of the forests; and the swirling tresses to ocean bull kelp make fantastic viewing from the cliff tops. Such volatility contrasts with calm days, clear air, long summer twilights and vivid sunsets that are also characteristics of the Catlins." |
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| | 2006 Chile | | Our South American exploration began in Chile, a great first stop. |
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| | Summer 2012 NM, MX, AZ, UT | | After a year and a half hiatus, we are starting back on the road again and doing a little 5000 mile loop |
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| | 2012-13-14 Vail Valley | | Back to the Vail Valley for our 5th consecutive winter of skiing & 2nd summer of hiking & 6th skiing season |
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| | 2014 Home | | On 1/3/2014, we became the proud owners of our new home at the Four Seasons Vail. No more homelessness!! In 2017, we had some professional photos taken and also got an amazing Virtual Walkthrough |
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| | 2014-15 Vail Valley | | Back in Vail for our 7th ski season and full-time residency at our new home at the Four Seasons |
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| | 10-2015 Oaxaca | | After staying in Vail for one whole year, we traveled to southwestern Mexico in October 2015 to soak up the culture there |
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| | 2016 Vail | | The summer of 2016 we concentrated on Dimitri's recovery from his leg-straightening surgery and keeping him upbeat by socializing |
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| | 9+10-2016 SW Colorado | | We were totally wowed on our first road trip to Southwest Colorado and New Mexico to see the fall foliage, the San Juan Mountains and the ruins of the Ancient Puebloans/Anasazi people. |
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| | 2017 Vail | | Summer in Vail with Dimitri's newly straightened leg working great! |
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| | 2017 Mexico | | Our October vacation from our otherwise every day vacation |
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| | 2017-18 Vail | | We're getting to be long term residents in Vail (just about anyway) |
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| | Fall 2018 | | Another bucket list item: an African Safari. Plus a 1-month road trip in UAE & Oman. Stop and visit relatives in Boston on the way out and in Washington DC on the way back. |
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| | 2019-20 Winter - Vail | | Vail - another ski season which came to an abrupt end on March 14 with the advent of the Covid-19 pandemic |
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| | Sarantis | | On the night of November 18, 2019, Sarantis Moursellas passed away in his sleep. He will be missed by many. |
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