Dave and Merry Jo Binkley

D MJ Binkley

Dave and Merry Jo Binkley

Photographers, divers, writers, foodies, chefs and music enthusiasts.

Travelers' Century Club Members: 12/2023. MJ 107 and Dave 104.

We appreciate your feedback and if you like our stories we would appreciate it if you follow our blog.

We live on North Hutchinson Island, Florida. If you are in Florida please send us a private message as we would love to meet you.

Two retired nurses who are passionate about traveling the world.
Our love of travel, meeting new people and experiencing new cultures will hopefully take us to wonderful places and allow us the chance to get to know friendly people from other countries. Come join us as we explore "the big blue marble" and its inhabitants!


Travel quotes to enjoy.
Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the things that you did do. So throw off the bow lines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”
- Mark Twain


Life is very short, try everything you've dreamed about (within the perimeters of sanity and the law) and regret nothing. Oh, and don't forget the sunscreen." ~Amber Benson




Asia » Taiwan » Taipei March 4th 2024

A quick look at a map reveals that Taiwan is located off the coast of China, sort of between Japan and the Philippines. When planning this six-week journey, Taiwan became one of those destinations that we refer to as, “while we’re in the neighborhood” stops. When you spend 15 hours in a plane from North America to reach this part of the world, you must consider how you can maximize your travel time. Additionally, we needed to consider if we would find ourselves in this part of the world again and what might become of Taiwan in the next decade or so, given that the Chinese still, and always will, consider Taiwan as part of the Peoples Republic of China. Things could get ugly in this part of the world someday… As with many countries around ... read more
The Best Beef Noodle Soup
2024 Lantern Festival
The Lantern Festival

Asia » South Korea » Jeju February 28th 2024

Our third and final South Korea blog comes to you from the southern coastal town of Busan and the Island of Jeju. If you missed our two previous blogs, they are here for you to take a look. After the fantastic experience that was Seoul, we left that amazing city riding in the first-class cabin of the train out of Seoul Station. No surprise that it is very comfortable and provides a lot of room for luggage. Koreans seem to know how to do public transport well. We enjoyed our two-and-a-half-hour ride along the interior of the country. In South Korea, they do not allow you to eat or drink in most of the train but in first class we discovered it was allowed. You can bring food on with you which in retrospect is what ... read more
Tandori chicken wings
Orchids Abound
Train to Busan

Asia » South Korea » Seoul February 23rd 2024

For those of you who have followed us for a while are quite aware, we are foodies who enjoy tasting new cuisine both at home and especially when traveling. The U.S. has plenty to offer those in search of new taste delights, given the size and diversity of the populace, but the opportunity to travel to distant lands and encounter completely new dishes is heavenly. Our friends Galen and Denise are living in Seoul and are fellow foodies so we knew we would be taken care of during our visit, and they did not disappoint. If you don’t care about looking at food photos or reading about a food experience, you might as well close this blog now, because it will hold limited interest for you. We will catch you on the next blog….. Arriving quite ... read more
Negotiations for fish purchases
IMG_2014.
Enjoying a cold drink at Suzy Q's LP Bar

Asia » South Korea » Seoul » Nowon-gu February 22nd 2024

We are keenly aware that for most, South Korea is not on the top of most people’s travel lists. And we will volunteer that this list used to include us as well. So how does one make the decision to hop on a plane and travel some 7700 air miles to visit? Simple…..you’ve got friends living there and you’ve been invited! Our friends Denise and Galen have been living in Seoul since July. Galen retired from teaching in Los Altos, California after 38 years and wanted to try teaching in a foreign country and was hired by Asia Pacific International School in Nowon-Gu. With an invitation to visit them, there really is no way to say no to such a wonderful opportunity to explore a new place with friends. Most travelers have a bucket list of ... read more
 Dongdaemun Design Plaza
Air Canada  Business Class
Monk at Temple


After a thoroughly enjoyable time on Nevis with our friends, we packed it up and headed out to take the Sea Bridge ferry back to St. Kitts to finish our time in these small islands. This ferry leaves Nevis at 7am, Noon and 5pm. We didn’t want to take a chance of missing it after our adventure a few days before on St. Kitts, so we arrived early. As a matter of fact, we drove over to the dock the afternoon before to make sure we could find it as we had arrived in the black of night a couple of days earlier. Signage is greatly lacking....no, it actually does not exist so we made a test run. Arriving one hour early the next morning and first in line, we waited eagerly for this ferry ride ... read more
Landing Craft Medium
Scenic St. Kitts
View from our hotel


There are some travel journeys that are seemingly straight forward, but take unforeseen turns, only to eventually work out just fine. Our travel to the lovely island of Nevis was exactly that. Living in Florida, the three-hour journey to the Miami Airport and the flight to St. Kitts were essentially uncomplicated, then the unexpected happened. Let us back up just a little. We had originally booked a nice home to share with our friends Sylvia and Kevin (from the Travelers Century Club) on Nevis back in early July. Normally, you hear from the owners closer to your arrival date with the details about where the home is located and check in information. When Dave did not hear from the host even after messaging him, he placed a call to the owner, only to be told that ... read more
Colorful flora
One of the few beaches on this tiny island
The gang

North America » United States » Illinois » Chicago November 17th 2023

Downtown Chicago may surprise you as much as it did us as it is an architectural wonder on one of our five Great Lakes. The confluence of Lake Michigan and the Chicago River ensures this world class city as an important cargo route. These waterways are surrounded by modern skyscrapers, well planned boardwalks and parks which lend this city to be extremely attractive and walkable. The public transportation makes it easy to visit from many of the suburbs. Nearby Union Station has amazing architecture, excellent signage as well several shops, restaurants, and vending machines. Chicago is known as “The Windy City” and many think it is due to the wicked cold winds coming off Lake Michigan…. There are some summer days that feel cold, but winter can be unbearable with the changing microclimates. In reality --it ... read more
The City Streets of Chicago
#12  Ayo Dosunmu
Flying into Chicago

North America » United States » Illinois » Aurora October 22nd 2023

For about the past six months, we’ve been living and working in Aurora, the second largest city in Illinois, just 35 miles west of Chicago. When most people think of Chicago, they think of the United States' fourth largest city with about 3 million inhabitants. Toss in the total number of people that live in the suburbs and that total swells to about 10 million. We are going to save all that for the next blog and spend our time here describing some of the unique and cool things we did outside of this area. We’ve managed to do a lot of exploring and certainly do not want to provide a blow-by-blow of every weekend, but did want to talk about some of the highlights. If you are in the area visiting and venture away from ... read more
The Red Covered Bridge
Colorful Illinois Countryside
1863

North America » United States » Illinois » Aurora October 7th 2023

"Baseball is like church. Many attend… but few understand." - Leo Ernest Durocher As the fall air approaches us here in northern Illinois, the days grow shorter, the air is cooler and the leaves are just hinting about changing colors. With that, the baseball season is coming to a close. The major leagues have a few weeks left, but for the majority of the minor leagues, the season is over, the stands sit empty and all that’s left are memories of the season concluded. Dave is working one last contract and we’re staying in a smallish city about 25 miles west/southwest of the city with big shoulders, Chicago. We arrived in early May and will be here until November. We knew there was a lot do given our location, but we were pleasantly surprised to learn ... read more
Batter up!
Rooting for those Chicago Dogs!
Rail Cats mascot in Gary, Indiana


We don't want to confuse anyone.... we returned from Panama about two months ago and are behind on publishing this missive. In the beginning, we really did not intend to go to Panama, and we bet that sounds funny. After all, when you are planning your trip, you are busy gathering all the information about where you are going and what you hope to do while you are there. When we were booking our flights to South America on Copa Airlines (which is not a great airline), we discovered Panama City was a hub and they would allow you to stop for up to a week (in Panama, not the airport) without additional cost. Kind of the same deal when you fly Icelandic Air and can stay in Iceland for a while before proceeding to Europe ... read more
Old Town Panama City
Wonderful fresh fish
Monkey Island




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