Watching the World: Being a news junkie, but finding it unbearable to read only US sources, even the best of them, I’ve compiled a list of international news media—trustworthy, intelligent, as unbiased as I want them to be. I dip into three of them, first thing every morning, and scan the rest during the day. The important US news is there without trump trump trump every effing minute. Before the day’s over, I usually wind up with the Times and somewhere on Substack, but not for too long.

From now, most posts will include a paragraph or more overview of that day’s international coverage. There’s this amazing world out there, and quite a few of the countries comprising it are way smarter, more hopeful and certainly more interesting than the US at this point in time. Besides, it’s much more fun for a travel/news junkie to find out what the heck’s going on this way.  

Seeing the World: My blog posts from last April through this May have been sent off to Pixxibook (a real place) to be turned into yet one more journal/photo album of my life: family, friends, travel, ageing, and the odd weather or food observation. I’ve been doing this since 2010 and the accumulated ‘library’ is my proof that I’ve lived—and moreover lived interestingly.

My blog writing year starts around my birthday in April. That gives me enough time, January through March, to get my act together for a year ahead.

Therefore, I declare this the first blog post of a new year. I’ve been calling the two months since my birthday a reset, like turning off a device and when turning it back on, it performs like it was supposed to all along. But language is no longer so simple. Resetting one’s computer wipes out all accumulated apps (acquired knowledge) … so in a human, I guess it would be back to birth. How about just using ‘reset’ the old-fashioned way, as in resetting an alarm clock to return to a time you wanted or needed? My defense for requiring such a reset appears to be last year’s retirement. Who knew that after only 55 years in the work force it would be so hard? Anyway…reset.

For the proper launch of my new year, a renewed commitment to reading and writing was a must. There had to be more, though, to make certain that I was still I, Marjorie Neset, after the reset. I knew what would prove to me and to you that, yes, indeed, this was really me. Planning A Very Big Trip.

So here goes. The journey to be described below is intended to happen around September 2026. I have two possible partners in this quixotic adventure. None of us are young nor wealthy, and then there’s the world-as-we-know-it falling apart, but we are all used to forcing impractical side trips (hustles?) into our lives, and finding them fascinating…and even sometimes enjoyable. Since my travel buddies are still employed, and since I’m the travel-planning obsessive, I will be spending the next few blog-posts … planning. Some of you will find it interesting, many of you won’t … but you’ll enjoy the photos coming to you in those fine September days of the future.

***

If you remember, a year or so ago, I intended to train across Europe to the principalities I had yet to visit and to Switzerland. At that point I would have visited every European entity (44 of them, to be exact) recognized by the UN as a country. That plan fizzled, not sure why. Too many trains, too much lugging luggage, not enough me. Now the plan is back…the reset having made me strong and capable once again.

You’ve met my fellow travelers before, Celia of Greenlandic and African fame; Tom of hanging out in Northern New Mexico infamy. They don’t know each other yet, but both love cats, meeting new people, and they possess equally eccentric senses of humor. They will like each other better than they like me.

There are, as with any journey, numerous considerations including time, money, physical fitness, mental wherewithal, and personal interests. We’ll wrestle with those later. For now, just where to go and how to get there.

***

Here are our desired destinations/routes. As stated earlier: me and the principalities, Switzerland and, always, Paris (and perhaps the cousins in Norway at the tail end of it all). Celia wants to go to Spain, Portugal, Prague, and on a river cruise. Tom’s desires include Florence, Venice, a train ride through Switzerland, and Paris. Surprisingly, this combination of travel wants meshes well.

See map. Watch me get all of our desired destinations into the proposed itinerary.

• We fly into Lisbon.
• Wend our way to Barcelona.
• Into Andorra (Principality #1)
• Across the South of France.
• Down west coast of Italy, detour inland a short way to Florence.
• On down to tip of Italy and ferry to Malta (Principality #2).
• Up east coast to San Marino Principality #3).
• Continue north to Venice.
• Train through Switzerland.
• Small side trip to Liechtenstein (Principality #4).
• Northeast to Prague.
• Straight west to Paris.

Well well well! Doable. Assuming we get and stay extremely healthy until September 2026; plan on cheap hotels, and minus-star restaurants; take an absolute minimum of baggage—For me that means only my phone, kindle, and a notebook. Few clothes. Lots of sink washing.

How much time abroad, probably different for each of us. We have our own distinct pursuits: Tom castles and all things history; Celia adventure and learning stuff; me contemporary art and historic sites of death and destruction and oddities. Such an exploration it might be!

My afternoon of figuring out how to mix train, buses, and rivers to best and most economically accomplish the above travel lies ahead.

You know something…after all these years, when I’m having this much fun with a project or activity and breaktime rolls around…I still want to go sit on the back patio with a cigarette…and ideally a cup of coffee or a beer. Oh well, still got the coffee and the patio.