A Grand Adventure Awaits!

Never too old to have some fun.

VOL. 3 ... No. 100. April 9, 2025.

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Laughter Saves Lives, but money fills the tank. Thank you!

Howdy Humpers,

Big happenings in ZonderWorld.

I’ll be writing the Hump Day Gazette from Portugal during the month of May! That’s provided all goes well — like internet connectivity and me staying focused enough to remember what day is Wednesday.

We’ll be staying in Tavira, a lovely sun-drenched city on the southern coast in the Algarve region. The Algarve is at the southern tip of the map in the green section. Tavira is slightly east of Faro, the city we’ll be flying into.

I fell in love with Portugal about 20 years ago when I watched a travel show on PBS about Brits who were buying second homes or relocating to Portugal. In addition to its stunning topography and historic architecture, the Portuguese people were portrayed as warm, welcoming, and unpretentious. While I don’t really know that much about Portugal, I’ll be traveling with a HUGE open heart and mind.

We’ve already made some new friends who are living there, and can’t wait to get to know them better. Our dear friend, Jayne, will be taking care of Cady so we can rest in the knowledge that nobody loves little dogs more than she. This vacation is a BIG deal for us. While we’ve traveled all over the U.S. and a few countries close by, Stu and I have never been to Europe. We’ll be there for Stu’s 70th birthday! Better late than never, I sez.

This pretty much sums up how we’re feeling right now . . .

The Algarve region is a tourist destination in the summer for people from all over the world. Many of the locals speak English, so we should be fine, but Stu and I have been studying the Portuguese language for a couple of months. We hope to at least be able to say hello, goodbye, please, thank you, how much does it cost, and where’s the bathroom. From what I have learned so far, the Portuguese language shares similarities to other Romance languages, particularly Spanish and Italian, but pronunciation is very different. We’ve been told that the Portuguese people appreciate it when you try, even if you fracture it.

I hope that’s true because we will — for sure — fracture it.

The traditional music of Portugal is called fado, and is an important, deeply ingrained part of the culture. In this video, you’ll see scenes of the Algarve with “Desfado” by Anna Moura sung in the background. I don’t know the people who shot this video, but they look like they’re having fun.

I hope to bring you lots of great travel stories from Portugal in May!

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Until next time, my friends . . . Obrigada por lerem a Gazeta do Dia da Hump! (Thank you for reading The Hump Day Gazette!)

Janna

Quote Of The Week:

The only thing that matters is to feel the fado. The fado is not meant to be sung; it simply happens. You feel it, you don't understand it and you don't explain it. — Amália Rodrigues, Portuguese singer