Category: Travel

Living abroad also gives us the ability to easily travel to places that would be much harder to get to from the US. In this category, we catalogue all the trips places we’ve visited outside our host country.

Mexico City and Oaxaca

When we first received our assignment to Guatemala and started thinking about regional travel, Misha said to me that if we were going to visit Mexico, she didn’t want to go anywhere she’d already been.  Well, much like James Taylor, I’d never really been but I sure wanted to go.  We haven’t been able to take advantage of the regional travel as much as we originally thought due to Misha’s cancer treatment, but after traveling to Mexico City on my own in February, I had to go back.  Misha had never been to Oaxaca, widely considered one of the premiere culinary destinations of the Western Hemisphere, so that’s how we spent our extended Memorial Day Weekend. 

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A Weekend in Bogota

When Misha was provided the opportunity to go to Bogota for a four-day training on atrocity prevention, we jumped at the chance to bundle it with some tourist activity.  We flew down on a Friday in April, and I returned on Monday.  Misha stayed for her training, which included one big tourist attraction outside of the city that I missed out on.  Bogota is the third largest city in South America by population, home to over 8 million people.  It’s also very high up in the mountains of Colombia, with an altitude of over 8600 feet. 

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Home Leave

Home Leave is a State Department mandated vacation that occurs between tours. Our leave happened to be the maximum time allotted to us, or 30 days, plus a week of Annual Leave tacked on at the end. We used this time to travel around the country, visit with family, renew our licenses, attend medical appointments, and try to relax despite the near constant stream of activities we attempted to squeeze in. Here's a quick recap of our first home leave.

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A Quick Jaunt in Jordan

In what was perhaps our last excursion from Israel, Misha and I had an absolute blast in Jordan, Israel's eastern neighbor. The country is currently only allowing those with diplomatic visas to cross the border by car, so we took advantage of our status once again. This may also be our last road trip in my car before we sell it to a fellow diplomat, so it was a nice final drive for my Jetta. This trip didn't have the bewildering brush with border patrol that our Belgium trip had, but it wasn't complete devoid of anxiety all the same. Namely, as the trip wore on, I felt more and more certain that I was coming down with covid.

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Belgian Holiday

After our first attempt to visit Belgium was nixed back in August, Misha and I regrouped for a second attempt during the Christmas season. I can't believe I'm saying this after only two years away from Massachusetts, but the trip actually made me miss winter weather....It wasn't all a nostalgic return to holiday cheer, though. As a matter of fact, it started as poorly as an international trip can start.

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The Grengas Go to Greece

Back in November, Misha and I, along with my mother and sisters, took an off-season trip to Greece. Keeping with the tradition of this blog, I will eschew a day by day breakdown of our vacation and instead recount a few anecdotes and highlights. An aspiring travel writer I am not. Even if I were, it’s a little late in the blogging game to be offering advice on what to do in Athens and Santorini.

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Back to Deutschland: Berlin and Beyond

Misha and I took advantage of the September holiday season in Israel to skip town for a week and head to Germany. Rather than return to Bavaria, this time we spent two days each at the beginning and end of our trip in Berlin with two days in Saxony sandwiched in the middle. The food was delicious, the weather warm and sunny, the trip a great success.

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Adjournment to Austria

After several false starts due to ever-changing travel restrictions, Misha and I finally settled on an August vacation destination: Austria. We stayed at an Airbnb in a quiet little town near Krems an der Donau for two nights. Then, it was on to Vienna.

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A Weekend in Bavaria

Just like back home, American FSO's in Israel enjoyed an extra day off for the holiday. Rather than celebrate it on the beach in Tel Aviv, a friend and I decided to take advantage of the loosened travel restrictions and fly to Germany for the long weekend. One of the things we've missed out on most with Covid restrictions is cheap travel around Europe and the Mediterranean, so we weren't going to let this opportunity pass us by.

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MDW in the Capital

Every town and city across the country has a tradition of patriotic pride when it comes to the major holidays. Many more have their own local traditions that only locals truly understand. Growing up in Boston, this is how we feel about the Boston Marathon. It's a 26.2 mile party complete with a Red Sox... Continue Reading →

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