Boarding a transatlantic plane again?
So soon?
I eagerly answer, with a wink and a grin,
"Yes! This afternoon!"

Hello again, Blogonauts! Another junket is about to begin. Even as my plane ascended from Charles de Gaulle Airport last August, I felt a strong urge to return to France and to poke my nose elsewhere around Europe. That loosened Wanderlust grew into an inescapable, insistent itch. Consequently, as New England headed from autumn into its winter deep-freeze, my head began to plot a spring-time ricochet back across the pond.

So here's the plan I hatched:

This time I'm traveling solo for the entire 10-day journey. On Thursday evening I fly out of Boston for my first ever trip to Amsterdam. My booking keeps me in Holland until early Tuesday, when I venture on to Belgium for a single night. Then on Wednesday I board the train again, this time to enchanting, irresistible Paris. (Excuse me, Ella. That's your cue.) My return flight to Boston departs on Easter Sunday evening.

(One early note regarding good luck: Against the odds British Airways is managing to actually fly their airplanes on my planned travel dates. Had my schedule slipped only a few days on the calendar, planes and passengers could have been grounded by their spasmodically scheduled cabin crew strikes.)

My hotels, trains, and scads of activities are already planned, but fortune will of course dictate random distractions. If you would like to follow my meanderings and view some of the photos of the trip, you can find them semi-regularly posted here. Any highlighted text (hyperlinks) in the entries will transport you to additional info (and an occasional surprise). As always, I will try to avoid boring you with overabundant details, and instead simply supply some of the highlights of discovery and reflection. I hope you enjoy them.