Hi y’all – did you miss me? I was on a cruise to visit Japan, Korea, and China for 2 1/2 weeks, +/- a day due to the International Date Line.

Nope. Well, how could you miss me? – I had blog posts cached. (which reminds me of STASHES – have you read it yet?)

This is my first post jet lag, mail, laundry, groceries, re-connect with friends, and bills-to-pay bit. Hope you relish – and rejoice in our safe traveling…

Travel which was made more comfy, amenable, and safe by universal signs:

• for travel lights, crosswalk, and stop signs that we and our bus drivers recognized, even though the billboards and information signs along the streets and roads were incomprehensible. Yet, I would recognize the divergence of Japanese, Korean, and Chinese characters anytime, anywhere now.
• for the small ‘i’ of information desks and kiosks at the train stations and airport terminals, with competent English speakers who understood and answered our questions precisely.
• for the male and female symbols for toilets – there are no ‘restrooms’ in these countries. In China, the facilities were often ‘squats’ (see the signs). Thank goodness I’ve been doing my leg exercises. My knees climbed hundreds of steps in multiple places without a wince or a pop, though there was mild shortness of breath…I am older and contemplating where our travels should take us before we can’t trek mildly, let alone strenuously.

What are your travel suggestions, Constant Reader? Where in the world will PJ and Larry go?

Please mention someplace where one doesn’t have to aim well and/or squat —

or provide one’s own toilet tissue!

It was almost more than a Boomer could bear/bare.