3 Continents in 3 Weeks...NOT!

Hello All,

3 continents in 3 weeks was the plan, last week.  As most of you know, I had travel planned to Germany (Europe), Jordan (Asia), and the US (North America).

We have a saying in the military...no plan survives first contact.  That certainly was the case here.

The first leg of my trip went ok as I was off to Garmish, Germany, which is in southern Germany on the Austrian boarder just north of Innsbruck.  As always, traveling sucks.  I hate dealing with customs agents, airport personnel, and long flights.  Thankfully, I had a couple of good books and the in flight entertainment system is free so I watched a few new releases.  Also (thankfully), airlines anywhere outside the US treat you like a human being and not like cattle being loading onto a transport.

Leg two of my trip was to Amman, Jordan.  I was looking forward to spending a day of down time in Munich awaiting my flight to Jordan but was contacted mid-week telling me that all non-essential travel to Jordan was to be cancelled by direction of the Ambassador.

Makes sense I guess...people climbing over the walls of an American embassy and burning the American flag does not instill a lot of confidence (embassies are sovereign US territory by the way so this was an act of war).  I would hate to end up like US Marine LtCol William Higgins who was video taped swinging from the end of a rope in Lebanon, Aug of '89.  History repeats itself with the death of Ambassador Stevens and his security team which included at least 2 former Navy SEALs in Libya.

Marine Fleet Anti-terroism Support Teams (FAST) are being rapidly deployed through out the region and I am keeping a low profile here at my current location.

A storm is coming...you will need more than an umbrella.

The third leg of my trip was to hometown USA so I could be by my wife's side as she undergoes a high   risk surgical procedure.  My "family" didn't see this as much of an emergency, so I will be riding it out here.  Trip cancelled.

I love you, Wife!

Hope all is well in your part of the world,
Michael