My Thoughts · Spain · Travel

I Came, I Saw, I Walked!

Featured Larada
Tennis shoes walking. I walked
I walked!

I walked and walked and walked for a two-week total of 193,199 steps! Julius Caesar’s famous quote: “I came, I saw, I conquered” inspired me for today’s topic. Lin and I just got home last night from an eleven-day Mediterranean cruise with a two-day extension before in Barcelona, Spain and a two-day extension in Rome, Italy. On almost all of our excursions, we walked!

MY STEP COUNT FOR THE TRIP=193,199:
  • September 29–4594—Flight day to Barcelona, Spain
  • September 30–0—Barcelona—my FitBit wasn’t working!
  • October 1–272—Barcelona: we did lots of walking, so my FitBit must have not been charged!
  • October 2–10387—Left Barcelona on the ship
  • October 3–14047—Cannes, France
  • October 4–15176—Livorno, Italy port; visited Florence & Pisa
  • October 5–18517—Naples, Italy; visited Pompeii
  • October 6–7126—Messina, Italy
  • October 7–12070—Kotor, Montenegro
  • October 8–9241—Corfu, Greece
  • October 9–17067—Santorini Island, Greece
  • October 10–16003—Piraeus Italy; visited Athens
  • October 11–12227—Mykonos, Italy
  • October 12–10605—At Sea
  • October 13–12231—Rome, Italy
  • October 14–26323—Rome, Italy
  • October 15–7313—Flew Home

Some of these days’ totals don’t reflect that day’s activity because of the seven to nine-hour difference in time zones from ours in New Mexico, but they are close.

But we had to walk! How else could you see the ruins at Pompeii? Or the mind-blowing Acropolis in Athens? Or the massive colosseum in Rome?

I Walked the Most in Rome!

My largest walking day was in Rome, Italy, on October 14, where we followed suggestions given by the desk clerk at our hotel and wandered around from site to site. Lin’s amazing map reading skills made this possible. Then we had an excursion that evening where we moved from restaurant to restaurant sampling traditional Italian food. I walked 26323 steps in one day and ended up with busted blood vessels on my right leg from this action-packed day!

For the next few weeks of my blog posts, plan on traveling with me. We had such a fantastic time; I want to share this trip with you! I haven’t downloaded my pictures yet, so I shared none of mine today, but be ready for some great shots!

Finally,

As I walked where centuries ago many people walked, I felt in touch with those ancient ones. Are you a traveler? Have been to this part of the world? What was your experience?

News, News, News!

Coronavirus Reflections: Bitter or Better? meme. I walked!

~My new book, Coronavirus Reflections: Bitter or Better? WON the 2022 New Mexico-Arizona Book Awards in the Body, Mind & Spirit Category. I’M SO EXCITED!

~Wish You Were Here: A Novel by Jodi Picoult, one of my favorite authors, deals with the COVID pandemic in fiction as opposed to my nonfiction book. Check it out! Interesting story!

~MY FIRST AUDIOBOOK IS AVAILABLE: Go to Audible to buy my first audiobook, Let Me Tell You a Story. I’m working on Coronavirus Reflections: Bitter or Better? but have gotten stalled with shingles.

~Do you listen to podcasts? Here are three podcasts with interviews about my new book & some Flippo stories:

Just Another Square Dance Caller: Authorized Biography of Marshall Flippo meme. I walked!

~Have you bought a copy of Flippo’s biography yet? Believe it or not—it’s been two years. Go here for your hardback or paperback: https://www.laradasbooks.com or at Amazon.

~For me, it’s Christmas all year long! Here’s a variety of Christmas greetings from Flippo & Neeca, featuring his song, “When It’s Christmas Time in Texas”: https://youtu.be/mpJCUGffU3A

Published by Larada

Larada Horner-Miller is a poet, essayist and accomplished multi-genre author who holds a bachelor’s degree in English, with a minor in Spanish and a master of education degree in Integrating Technology into the Classroom. She is the accomplished author of six award-winning biographies, historical fiction, memoir, and poetry works plus three self-published cookbooks. Her sixth book, Coronavirus Reflections: Bitter or Better?, is available in paperback and four e-book formats. Larada offers the reader the opportunity to look back at 2020 and the global pandemic through her prose and poetry through reading, then reflecting and responding. She addresses all the emotions she felt during this overwhelming time and leads the reader through to a self-access: bitter or better? Her fifth book is the authorized memoir and biography of world-renown square dance caller Marshall “Flip” Flippo. Just Another Square Dance Caller: Authorized Biography of Marshall Flippo is available now in hardback, paperback and four e-book formats. Recently Just Another Square Dance Caller won two awards: Book Excellence Awards Finalist and Silver award for eLit. Book Awards. Another recent book of hers, A Time to Grow Up: A Daughter's Grief Memoir has won many awards including being a 2018 Book Excellence Awards Finalist in the Memoir category at the New Mexico-Arizona Book Awards and a 2018 Independent Press Distinguished Favorites Award in the Memoir category. Horner-Miller has also been a past national presenter at the Women Writing the West Conference and is currently the creator of Memoir Workshops for others who want to share their family’s legacies through words. Larada and her husband, Lin, enjoy being nestled in the mountains above Albuquerque, New Mexico, near the village of Tijeras. When not writing books, this passionate, energetic, and enthusiastic woman loves to spend time kicking up her heels at square dancing gatherings, traveling, knitting, and reading. As co-manager of her family’s southeastern Colorado ranch, she enjoys spending time exploring her family’s historic ranch and reminiscing with her brother and his children about their mom, dad, and granddad.

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