Last Friday I got an email from SRH in Heidelberg asking if I want to teach a class this coming summer for 5 weeks. I’d like to but this throws a wrench in the plan that’s not set in concrete yet! Since we can only be in the Schengen countries 90 days out of every 180 days, spending 5 weeks in July reduces the number of days we can stay in most of Europe after the Africa trip. Thanks to an amazing calculator I found published by the EU, I figured out we can stay about 7 days after the Africa trip so it’s on to Plan B. Now we’re thinking we can drop off the duffel bags in Heidelberg, pick up our “regular” bag and head off to the UK – maybe stop in for a visit with Darcy and Kelly before we head up to Scotland to see what the whiskey trail looks like. We need to so some research to make sure the distilleries and castles are even open in December but I’m betting we could have a few places pretty much to ourselves!
Another new addition to the plan … fly back to Germany from the Seychelles on Emirates Airlines and stop for a few days in Dubai using the Dubai Stopover. The ticket costs the same as flying direct and we can see what Dubai is all about. They even have a few Ibis hotels. Stay tuned!