We’ve been somewhat fortunate these last three weeks since the elections to be in another country on another continent. While we’ve kept up with the headlines, we have generally managed to steer clear of the hand-wringing, OMG-ing and yes, the celebrating that seems to be rather pervasive in the US.

The few conversations we’ve had with locals and fellow tourists have been met with a mix of good humor and confusion, with some measure of concern. The role that the US plays in the world is well known to most people over here, and there is a bit of wariness, but for the most part people are just living their lives.

We had a laugh with three German college guys at a winery in Porto. When the subject inevitably came up, we said that we were very happy to be in Portugal. 😉

The great thing about travel, seeing other places and talking with other people is that it tends to really open our worldview. We know that things might look and sound a little different when we get home, but we know that what is done is done, there is nothing we can do to change it, so we’ll see what happens and figure out how to deal. Who knows, maybe everything will work out just fine!