amyth, what do you like to see and do when you travel?

I love history and recommend two places for that - Istanbul (altho' the politics there are dicey at the moment). There's Roman history, Crusader history, Islamic history - lots and lots of fascinating history. Also lots and lots of people, so be prepared to wait in lines.

For a smaller place, also full of history, I recommend Malta - pre-historic history, medieval, Knights of Malta, Napoleon, and WWII. Also, because the British ruled them for many years, everyone pretty much speaks English and you can get a proper tea.

For an entirely different direction, I also loved visiting Australia - tropical rain forests, deserts, wonderful birds, strange animals, some really scary inspects, and lovely people. It is a horribly long flight, so stay for at least a month. I also liked New Zealand, but I'm really more of a desert person, so I preferred Australia.

We were in the Azores this summer and loved it there!!

amyth, I hope you don't mind that I am totally reading these recommendations as "Oh, the Places You'll Go" amyth edition

Love this.

I cannot imagine Fernet ~settling~ my stomach, but hey, whatever works for you!

Small perk of bakery life -- I can make myself a jambon-beurre whenever I need lunch!

I made my plug for Santorini last Saturday, amyth, but I'm adding it here in case you're compiling from Natter.

Crohn's has a heredity factor, but no one in our family (out to my son's great-grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, or DH and My aunts, uncles, cousins -- and that's a lot of people -- DH is one of 9 kids, his mom was one of 10, his dad was one of 6, my mom was one of 6, my dad was one of 4) has had it. DH has gout (as did his father, and a few others in the family). I think there's some RA on his side. On my side, it's just osteoarthritis.

This may seem way out of left field, but have you done DNA testing and checked that against genealogy? Since I've done the deep dive on it with finding my birth parents I've learned a lot and it's much more common than most folks would like to admit to find an NPE (Non Paternity Event) back a generation or two which may mean the genetics you think you are inheriting aren't totally accurate.

Fernet is great, no hangover! I can imagine it being very good for an upset stomach.

Thirding or fourthing the Azores, whatever we've gotten up to. Absolutely beautiful and lots of history.

Even though it's a well-traveled European country, I recommend Spain. Both large and small. Granada is a must see for the Alhambra, but then there's Ronda, which is a very small town, but has a Roman aqueduct and Roman baths to explore. If you go over Easter, there's Semana Santa in Sevilla, and then all the spring ferias in the smaller towns throughout Andalucia. Plus, the smaller running of the bulls in Arcos and Vejer. None of those whole herds of bulls, just one at a time. Also, there are Roman ruins outside of Sevilla. Okay, done pimping Spain, now! I lived there for three years and really hated to leave because there was so much I still hadn't seen.

If you go to Spain, I recommend saving at least a day for Barcelona. Two days, if you like Art Nouveau architecture.

I love the "Oh, The Places You'll Go" amyth edition!

All of these sound amazing, and many are places I wouldn't have thought of myself.

I'm wary of cruises, because I have chronic problems with motion sickness and vertigo. But I may come out of this with a huge prescription for Zofran and some Scopolamine patches, so who knows?

Someone from my book club just sent me Cloudbound!

I keep meaning to go to the Azores! Maybe this summer?

Amyth, there are SO MANY places I want to go! But one I think would be fun but chill would be this summer when I was in France, I was bummed to not be able to spend a few weeks just driving to tons of tiny French towns and wandering around. There so very much to see there, and even if a town only has one museum and a good bakery, that's enough for half a day! My friend and I spent almost a whole day just driving through the mountains and stopping when we wanted (at a monastery, a goat cheese maker, a town having a festival) when the GPS wanted us to take a toll road for 90 minutes instead. Would've loved to do that more! I was kinda meh on Paris—it's nice and I didn't see anywhere near everything I'd like to, but smaller towns are awesome. (And the train system is pretty sweet too if you don't want to drive, or want to break from driving)