Change of Plans

Due to lack of 'suppliers' (not sure what that means) the Albania tour was cancelled.  But our flights to Europe had already been booked.  I will travel with a long-time friend, Kelly, who had intended to do the tour with me.  When I received the text from Kelly that the tour had been cancelled, I was in Galveston on our annual 'Parent Trip'.  Kelly asked, "What shall we do?"  I replied, "We shall make our own adventure!"  And so, our plan is to arrive in Rome, as intended, bus down to Naples to explore for a few days, and then travel across Italy to explore Bari for another few days, before ferrying to Croatia for the remainder of our time.  Turns out we can visit a LOT of countries from the Croatia side of the world, so we will.  I think Bosnia-Herzegovina is out, if only because my dear, ole' dad still worries about my safety.  Thanks, dad. 💕  Today is the final pack day.  Jax, my ever faithful German Shepard, is at 'playcare', which is when I tend to pack for trips.  He knows the 'gray bag of despair' as only something that appears just before I DISappear for several days.  So all efforts to hide this from him are taken to avoid unnecessary strife and discord.  Have you ever seen a German Shepard mope?  Not an easy thing to see.  If only I could tell him when I'll return...