Prisoner of Hopes

Category: Perspectives

  • Journey to Belem: Travel Goals

    The journey to Belem, the birthplace of Portuguese exploration, begins with a little exploration of our own. The walk through Alfama had fewer mistakes and backtracks than our walk yesterday. We celebrate our progress. It is now time to conquer the bus system. We look for the 728 bus stop and with some assistance from…

  • A Walk Through Lisbon: Travel Goals

    The air is crisp and cool when we leave the apartment. Already feeling accomplished as we finally figure out how to use the light in the stairwell and manage to find the electric release latch on the door to the street, we walk with confidence into the unknown. That is short lived. When you walk…

  • First Encounters: Travel Goals

    After a quick shower and change of clothes, we are off to enjoy the city. Well, if I am being honest, we are out walking around to keep ourselves awake. We have found that if we can stay awake the first day until evening in our new location that there is no jet lag. So…

  • Departures and Arrival: Travel Goals

    When we travel, I find that I spend a lot of mental energy playing endless versions of “how to beat the airline” in my head. It starts with trying to decide which flights to pick and which ticket options we need. I only have a few requirements: the tickets must be affordable, we need to…

  • Travel Goals

    Travel goals. Perhaps because my parents made regular vacation a priority, even when money was tight. . .perhaps because my husband loves travel as much as I do. . . Whatever the reason, a life goal of mine has been to travel the world. Little by little, my husband and I have sought experiences that…

  • Not in Kansas Anymore

    It is no secret that I love to travel. Each adventure changes me. I believe it makes me more empathetic and allows me to think more broadly than my otherwise limited experience would. I now have a great sympathy for visitors who struggle to understand our customs and strange ways of being. Even the simple…

  • Half time

    I was resting in my hotel room and I ran across an obscure program hosted by a singer that I remembered from the 1980’s. The conversation was about women and how easy it is for them to feel invisible in the second half of their life. Transitions such as children growing up, retirement, divorce, widowhood…

  • Roots

    The roads are winding and only sometimes paved.  Creeks and man made ponds dapple the landscape, visible between tall stands of oak and pine. Heaven on Earth.  Turkey vultures strut through barren fields.  Rocks are plentiful in the overturned soil.  Cattle call across the hills and hollows. Hauntingly beautiful and impossibly difficult terrain. It is…

  • A Walk in the Woods

    Today was unusually warm. I woke up and could smell the trees. It smelled like Spring. The outdoors called to me. Anticipation. A short drive to a state park delivered me to hills of endless trees. There were several trails to choose from. Each, an entry way into the forest. Happiness. There were others on…

  • Invisible

    Blame it on the weather or perhaps the post Christmas Blues, but the last several days I have been melancholy. That is far from my usual optimistic self. I have felt invisible, tucked away in my quiet corner, left to do the many things that need to be done with no fanfare or hoopla. Melancholia…