Hey folks, much apologies for my extended absence. I promise I’m still alive ;) Everyone’s been asking me about my “honeymoon”, but in reality it’s been one long hard slog. Don’t get me wrong, married life is great, it’s just there’s a lot of work to be done so this past month has been a whole lot of picking ’em up and layin’ ’em down.

In the meantime, although certain Romanian people are convinced I’m a lawless devil for failing to unquestionably obey authority, I still do love Romania.

Below is a message I received this week. I’m sharing it today because it makes me feel good, and reminds me of exactly why I do all the things I do.

We’ve just returned from 2 1/2 weeks in Romania. Most of it was spent traveling with a group of fellow hikers/tourists and some of it on our own. We found your book enormously interesting, helpful and entertaining.

It helped us understand that just because people looked stern didn’t mean they were angry at us or grim. It taught us to curb our impulses to shake hands with, and to smile at, everyone.

I’m a vegetarian and ate enough mamaliga to last a lifetime. I felt my arteries clogging up from all the cascaval pane. But thanks to your info on vegetarian and vegan options, I was able to eat quite well.

We found the Romanian people to be very kind. While out on a walk, a man gave us some of the apples he was picking in his yard. When we had a flat tire on a narrow, winding road, two young men at a hotel-restaurant not only changed our tire but accompanied us to a Vulcanizing shop several miles down the road where we had the flat repaired for 25 lei.

We did a two-night cruise in the Danube Delta. We found it beautiful but wish we had gone earlier in the year when the birds were still there or migrating through, and when the weather was warmer.

Again, thanks for making our trip easier and richer.

We gave your book a 5-star on Amazon.

Wow! I swear this was in no way solicited, and I’ve never communicated with this person before in my life. Just awesome stuff, and gives me inspiration to keep on going despite all the opposition.

Stay tuned, as I shall return soon with plenty of new stuff!