I often think about my parents, whose early experiences of countries other than their own were largely not by choice, and how after they established themselves in Canada they eschewed all but local trips – largely based on getting in the car to visit relatives.

Their lack of travel was not due to lack of curiosity, but rather a desire for firmly planted roots.

I, on the other hand, had the luxury of never being forcibly uprooted, and maybe that gave me the freedom to move.

I suppose that in our retirement Ted and I are more like the dandelion fluff that blows in the wind than those impossibly deep and stubborn dandelion roots we were never able to completely pull out of our lawn.

Our week in Rethymno has made us feel grateful – as we always are – for the opportunity to spend our retirement travelling and being continually inspired by new people and new places.

Rethymno’s beauty awakened our senses, and the happy mélange of travellers from all over interacting with each other and being warmly welcomed by the local Rethymnians reinforced that what most people want is simply conflict-free human connection.

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Efcharistó means thank you, in Greek.

It’s a word we’ve been using a lot.