travel

Travel Updates for 2026

/ Dusty Lynn Baker / Leave a comment

This year has been a wonderful, full-time nomadic experience! Since January, my adult son and I have visited Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg, Austria, and Albania. We are currently based in Albania on a 1-year tourist visa and have the following plans (thus far) for the remainder of 2026:

August: For two weeks in August we'll be on a whirlwind train tour through Italy. Taking a ferry across the Adriatic Sea from Albania to Italy and back, we'll be traveling via Trenitalia to Rome, Milan, Modena, Ancona, Foggio, and Brindisi.

November: This month marks 27-years since my time as an American National Red Cross worker with the US military in Kosovo in 1999. I'll be returning to Gjilan, Kosovo, and Skopje, North Macedonia, while adding Prizren, Kosovo, and Progradec, Albania, to the road trip.






			

	


			
				


	

							
Such a Big World!
						

			 / Dusty Lynn Baker						 / Leave a comment
								

			


		

		

Being in Albania currently has me thinking of about where my next stop will be after another month of Germany in July. While here in Albania though, I plan to visit the surrounding countries and explore more cultures. 





Kosovo, however, is a special return for me. I was there as a Red Cross manager with the US Army in Gjilan in 1999 while it was still an active zone. I can’t wait to see the beauty of it’s recovery and to see a happy people, moved on from the war. But for now, I’m at 19 of 195. That’s just shy of 10% of the world’s recognized countries.






			

	


			
				


	

							
Bitten by the Travel Bug!
						

			 / Dusty Lynn Baker						 / Leave a comment
								

			


		

		

I haven’t been keeping up with my “goings-ons and whereabouts” here on my blog, but I’m back to update. I took a huge step with my adult son and crossed the pond to Europe! We packed our most precious items in storage, loaded a couple carry-on bags and a cat, and flew to Germany, with no home to return to. Not a move as expats, but on an adventure as world travelers. 












With limited vision, work became impossible. My keratoconus has worsened and I can’t rely on my eyes from day-to-day or even hour-to-hour. So, instead of throwing my money at a landlord and being stuck, I’m now throwing my money at bookings and, taking full advantage of the amazing public transportation in Europe. 





So tonight I sleep in Oberwesel, Germany, a medieval town in the UNESCO World Heritage Site along the Middle-Upper Rhine Valley. The town is surrounded by 16 medieval towers with a walkable wall linking many of them, and overlooked from above by the majestic Schönburg Castle.





Check out Oberwesel here!