Sue and I have been pining for this day to arrive. When we tell friends our destination we get mixed comments. “Be safe” is probably the most annoying comment we get. Generally it’s from those who don’t travel outside the US. “Have a great time or bon voyage” from those experienced travelers.

We don’t travel on our own any more, but either book with a tour company or when traveling with our boys, use them as our planners and guides. The only down side of this trip is the second of three flights. It’s 16 hours non stop from JFK to Seoul, South Korea. Door to hotel in Ho Chi Minh City is around thirty one hours of travel. Should be fun.

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Wrexham is lowest-ranked team left in the world’s oldest soccer knockout competition, 71 places below todays opponent in English soccer’s pyramid.

Sheffield United played at Wrexham’s sold-out Racecourse Ground in northeast Wales, about 28 miles south of Liverpool.

Liverpool’s FA Cup title defense is over. Fifth-tier Wrexham, under its Hollywood owners, is still alive and well in the famous old competition.

On a dramatic day of late goals, Liverpool became the latest high-profile club to exit the FA Cup as the defending champions conceded a goal in the second minute of stoppage time to lose 2-1 at Brighton in the fourth round.

It’s only January but Liverpool is already out of the FA Cup and League Cup, languishing in ninth place in the Premier League and its only realistic chance of silverware this season is in the Champions League — where a last-16 matchup against Real Madrid awaits next month.

“I feel sorry for the fans … We let them down again,” Liverpool defender Andy Robertson said.

Sheffield United left it even later than Brighton — much to the despair of Ryan Reynolds.

The movie star, who co-owns fifth-tier Wrexham with fellow Hollywood actor Rob McElhenney, flew in to watch the match at the atmospheric Racecourse Ground with one of his daughters and was put on an emotional roller coaster in a 3-3 draw against the visitors from the second tier.

Sheffield United scored its equalizer in the fifth minute of stoppage time to force a replay, meaning Wrexham — the lowest-ranked team left in the competition — will be in the draw for the last 16 being held on Monday.

As the famous quote from the Ted Lasso series aptly describes my sport affinity. “Football is Life.”

The rest of this Sunday afternoon and evening will be binge watching Stalone in Tulsa King. I had lost interest in his acting many years ago but decide to give this a try because of the producer, Taylor Sheridon. The series and Stalone are very good and worth a look see.

CLICK HERE for the trailer. 

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Speaking of football. Most MLS teams play in soccer specific stadiums. I am on a mission to visit as many as possible before my expiration date. Last year I got to experience games in Austin, Houston, and Columbus, OH.

I just booked a trip to Charlotte in May and am also looking into Cincinnati, Nashville or St. Louis for my 2023 stadium visits. I prefer to celebrate these road trips with the home fans as opposed to going when my home team, New England, plays at those venues.

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In other news. Sue and I will be traveling to Vietnam four short weeks from now. Last spring, we booked a tour of Europe with Gate 1 Travel. It was our first time with this company. Every other travelers had done multiple trips with Gate 1 and the general consensus was Vietnam was the best place they had been. Sue and I are both looking forward to seeing the country, but the flight….not so much.

We fly from Boston to JFK, and board an Asian Air 14 hour nonstop to Seoul South Korea. A two hour layover and we are off to Ho Chi Minh City. I’m anticipating a killer jet lag.

All of our kids and grand kids live out of state. Usually we alternate travel to either Santa Fe or Atlanta to spend the holiday with one of the families. Sometimes however we stay home and have the parents buy useless toys for the kids and we reimburse them. Every year however, we send out generous checks to our favorite charities.

Christmas is just another day when there are no little ones around. And we spend a quiet day at home. This year however, we decided to play Santa for some friends. Wifey and I went holiday shopping today and got it all done in four brief stops.

Ocean State Job Lot a discount store that has just about anything your little heart desires. I didn’t go into the store and left all the shopping to her. I have no idea what was in the bags. I hope its cookies for me.

Next was Steve’s Wine And Spirits to restock our bar. Some Titos Vodka and Copa de Oro, a wonderful inexpensive and, in my opinion, a much better substitute for Kahlua when making Black Russians. Or…for fans of the Big Lebowski, White Russians.

A six pack of Sam Adams Larger to keep on hand. One of our dinner guests on Sunday is a beer drinker There will probably be two or three bottle still in the fridge on Labor Day.

We also bought a special Russian Rivers Chardonnay for our friends who invited us to dinner on xmas eve. The wives have celebrated this holiday since they were in grade school. A good wine is always a wonderful thank you gift.

CVS for a couple of big box gift cards for her favorite workers at the animal shelter.

Finally, some goods at Bask, our local “Bake Shop”, for our special friends.

Ho! Ho! Ho!

It was an hour drive through the jungle on dirt roads and over raging rivers to get to the beach and the surf town of Montezuma. We had to exit our 4×4 and walk across the river to test the deepness. On the way back to our house we ran into a jungle traffic jam. Eventually we got to our humble abode, safe as a Iquana in a bedroom.

Day 1 and Travel to Costa Rica

Caboya, CR

The family gathered in Costa Rica for a two week adventure in the jungle. Today’s video we drove and trekked to a surf area. On the way we picked up a hitch hiking father and son from Germany. The planned on walking the 10K to their rented home and had second thoughts Dad stuck out his thumb when they heard us approach. It was an easy decision to share our ride with them.

Click Here for Travel and day one of our adventure.

The family gathered in Costa Rica for a couple of weeks. The boys live in Atlanta, Boulder and Austin, which is a special treat when most of us get together for an extended reunion. I’m still working on the videos of the family and the first one is HERE if your interested