May 9: Montserrat
Leaving Molins de Rei, Dennis spotted a cyclist and caught up to him to get directions. We had been unable to find how to get to the bike route we were looking for. Adolfo Jimenez was our trail angel. He asked directions at a local hotel, and then lead us as far as Pallejá. He…
Wednesday May 8 – St. Andreau
Dennis and I are leaving the bike store for Montserrat, a mountain-top crag about 35 miles north of Barcelona. I’m a little nervous about riding in the city on a new and fully loaded bike. Dennis has planned the route which means he will pay attention to street signs while I concentrate on avoiding people…
Sunday, May 5 — Barcelona
Yesterday was low-key. Dennis was still not well and spent most of the day in bed. By evening he was starting to feel better and had the first restful sleep in five nights. The rest seems to have helped him. Its Mother’s Day in Spain, so I get to celebrate the holiday today and again…
Friday, May 3: Barcelona
After brunch at the hotel, we went back to the bike shop to retrieve a day back pack that I had left in the front rack pack. Nacho (nick name or Ignacio) kissed me on both checks. When I commented that store personnel in the US don’t have this custom, he replied “Its the latin…
Don’t drown in self-promotion
As you try to promote your book, do you feel as if you were drowning in work? Are you overwhelmed with all the various social media marketing tools? When I started promoting my book online, I spent way too much time tweeting, blogging, and updating my status on Facebook. I was creating so much content…
Sunday April 28 (cont.) to May 1
Sunday April 28 (cont.) It was great to be able to Skype my mom for her 86th birthday. The internet connection on land was much clearer and faster than on the ship. Also managed to speak with our daughter, Aine, who just returned from a trip to St. Barts. We had lunch on the top…
April 25 to April 28 aboard NCL Epic
Thursday April 25 Last night they canceled the Cirque de Soleil show, moved it to the night we are in Funchal (Sunday). We are experiencing 30+ Ft. waves and 45 mph winds. Everyone looks drunk as they try to walk around the ship. Did manage to get to the gym and sit on the…
First five days aboard the NCL Epic
Note: Formatting lost due to bandwidth. Saturday, April 20 We left the house around 7:30 am. The drive to Florida in our rented Dodge Grand Caravan was uneventful, luxurious compared to our 1998 Plymouth Grand Voyager. While driving on Alligator Alley, I was thinking about how unexcited I am about the trip. My mind was…
Become comfortable with indie publishing, and then write
Since publishing my book about ten months ago, I have been busy learning the business of indie publishing. It was a struggle. There seemed to be too much to do in too few hours, and what I needed to do differed from one expert to another. It took me a while to learn the various…
Book promotion—does it really work?
This is the sixth and last installment in the book promotion series. Other topics in the series are Getting noticed, Getting book reviews, Book trailers, Word of mouth, and The book cover. Note: For the next six months as I hike and bicycle around Europe, I will publish only one post per week on this site. I…