#10 Travel

We didn’t travel a lot when I was a kid. My parents were not rich and all they could afford was the occasional trip to Bass Lake and over to Salinas to see my cousins.

My first real travel was when I became an exchange student to Belgium in 1970/1971. That gave me the opportunity to fly to NYC, see all of Belgium, and make a few quick trips to Paris, Mont Saint-Michelle, & Berlin.

Before the kids were born, Liz and I travelled to Europe a couple of times to see the Vandiests and explore the UK, France and Italy. Post-kids, travel was difficult although we managed one trip to Europe with Liz’s mom Mary after we had just moved to Minnesota. In 2010 we purchased the first tranche of Marriott Vacation Club points which gave us access to properties in Palm Springs, Hawaii, Newport Beach, Vegas and other destinations. In 2012 Liz started working for Avenue Stores in New Jersey and I would spend my summers there, driving across the country on several occasions.

Our first cruise was in 2013 (Venice to Rome) to celebrate Liz’s 60th birthday, the same year I began playing GCAM golf tournaments all over the country. 2014 was the family golf trip to Scotland. 2015 and 2016 we spent a lot of time at our 2nd home at Lahontan which we purchased in late-2014.

Liz stopped working in 2018 and this opened the door for us to start travelling aggressively. 2019 ocean cruise from Southampton to Rome and river cruise from Budapest to Amsterdam. 2020 cruise of New Zealand and Australia. 2021 trip to Paris with Lance & Michelle. 2022 cruise from Istanbul to Southampton. 2023 ocean cruise from Tokyo to Singapore and river cruise to Bordeaux. 2024/2025 cruise from Lima to Rio.

Midway through 2025, it’s fair to say we are pushing the envelope on travel, having spent 100+ days on the road for five straight years. I am now keeping a spreadsheet of all the nights we spend on the road.

We still have a few spots in the world that are on our bucket list. We’ll be going to Dubai, Kenya and Tanzania in the fall of 2025. The Amazon, Egypt and the Nile River, the Galapagos Islands, Mayan ruins in Mexico, Mexico City, South Africa, Tahiti are all places we are thinking about. As long as our health and finances permit, I can see us keeping up this pace of travel for another ten years or so. It’s a big world out there and our window of opportunity to see it is shrinking. Carpe Diem.