Some of us travel in short burst because we don't get enough time away from our jobs. Some of us travel around the world time after time. What is your dream? What would you really like to do?
Dear Jo, and Bridget and Robert,
Thanks for your encouragement on my continued loss of weight, and I wish the same for all of you too. In my case I was 80 pounds overweight...typical American. I had lapband surgery to help me. Before the surgery I lost 8 pounds on the high protein liquid diet. So Robert should do well on a high protein diet...just keep drinking 64 fl oz per day to avoid ketosis and damage to your kidneys. Right Jo?
So now that we are getting our health in order, how about telling us about your dream trip... does it involve the tandem bike?
I had a friend at the German Defense Ministry who had a deal with his wife. They would alternate planning trips for each year without telling the other what the plan was until departure (other than telling what clothes to pack). One year he planned a cruise down the Danube, and each day they would ride bikes along the shore and reboard the boat in the evening. Just a thought if you were planning to bike.
Reply to this Hi Bob and Linda, yes - tandem biking is a possibility - I'm not sure quite how I feel about this, but Robert would like to try so I'll give it a go. I would like to travel to Russia and see Tolstoy's home, and some of the places in War and Peace, and maybe cross on the Trans Siberian Railway - I love train travel - but Roberts turn first, tandem biking in France! If we don't sell the house though we won't be going anywhere!
Reply to this I'm all the time on the road, and a lot at home too. We are a family somewhat "on the road". My son has never spend more than 3 days of his holidays at home over the last 4 years. This takes a lot of planing but it's so much fun and interesting.
Ralf, I have only one question. Do you ever plan to get a family? I believe there is a time for everything in life. A time to enjoy being single, a time to enjoy love, and a time to enjoy a family. But the best of travel will always be for me the one you share with your love ones. And yes, it is pretty fun to be considered as a young dad when your kids do grow fast.
I understand very well Steph point of you. In less than 10 years our littles ones will be at University, and we'll be free to roam the world at the speed we see fit at the time. I cannot wait for this to be honest. School gives us a frame that we have to live with. But at the same time we have developped lately more open to new ideas in term of schooling for the coming years. Long-term travel will happen...with school at the same time.
Some people are asking me with all these days on the road if we are trying to "escape something". Don't think so...but could discuss a lot on this...
Reply to this First to those trying to loose weight. A really good way to loose weight in my eyes is to travel. I am not kidding, I always make sure that I fatten up at home (thanks to my mum!) so I have a little extra to live off when things get rough on the road. I loose about 10 to 15 kg's on my trips and then I gain it again when I am home. I know, the yo-yo-effect, but I purposely gain it so I have my little reserve on the road.
Thanks to all for the compliments on my blog and my life-style. Nice to hear. I also do feel very lucky to be able to do what I am doing. I mean I am so fortunate to live in a part of the world where I actually have the choice to live a life like mine if I want to. And I have the extra luck to have the frame of mind not to be scared about living outside the box.
Pierre, I have no plans for a family, but who knows? I can't tell you whether or not I will one day have a family or not. At the moment it is not on my mind, but maybe one day I will meet this lovely girl and everything will change. I can't predict the future (luckily) and so I can't answer your question except by saying that it can go either way. I will leave it up to chance and fate.
Reply to this
In my personal experience, those who do not have the wanderlust gene do not completely understand those of us who do. (and that is ok) Asking what we are running from is an easy for them to imagine. They want answers, they want to figure us out.
Some of us want the excitement of blending in a new culture, struggling with a language, finding the universal language, looking for and wanting more. From my perspective it is moving forward not running from or sitting still. This nomadic life we have and dream of is calming and comforting.
In our work, we can easily move around our country. We have worked and lived in 14 states in America. We thrive on change. Our happiest moments are when it is "new" when we are seeing it for the first time.
Many friends and family thought I might "settle down" as they refer to it once I got married. Fortunately, I found a partner who shared my desired life. Ralf-- it may happen for you and as you say you will leave it up to chance and fate.
Moving forward........not running from.
The Binkley's
Reply to this I can't predict the future (luckily) and so I can't answer your question except by saying that it can go either way. I will leave it up to chance and fate.
Love your approach Ralf, one cannot predict or plan on such things as relationships. If it happens, it happens - if it does not, well than so be it. Whether I travel through life on my own (for me, being alone does not equate to being lonely) or if I meet someone to share my life with, I approach both possibilities with equal enthusiasm.
PA, Dave, Merry-Jo, as for travelling not being used as running or escaping from something, a variation of this thought was eloquently put by JRR Tolkien in Lord of the Rings when he penned the following line:
Not all those who wander are lost.
Wonderful quote from a wonderful book.
[Edited: 2011 May 21 21:54 - The Travel Camel:11053 ]
Reply to this Dear Dave and MJ,
I have seen your forum comments frequently, so today decided to read every one of your blogs from the beginning. To answer your original question above, I think my travel style is like yours...budget minded, but not a backpacker, and willing to splurge occasionally. However, when I do my leisurely trip around the world I don't think I will be able to afford the same amount fo time and money that you did in Australia. I will try to spend at least four weeks in New Zealand, and your blogs gave me some good advice. I am looking forward to reading about your next sabbatical.
Enjoy the San Francisco area. I used to go there a lot on business trips. At least one evening during the week I would drive over to Sausilito and eat at Spinnakers on the waterfront. Eating seafood while looking across the bay to the Sand Francisco skyline at night was the perfect evening. I would usually end work about noon on Friday and drive up to Napa or the Muir Redwoods in the afternoon rather than catching the red eye back to DC. I would fly home on Saturday.
Reply to this Bob,
Wow-- We appreciate you taking the time to read all of our blogs. That must have taken some time. Hopefully, our writing improved over time. We'd love some constructive feedback from you on our writing and how we can improved. Send us a message. We think the one from Paris one was of the better written blogs.
Australia cost a lot more money than we anticipated. In part due to the exchange rate. Our big splurge in Australia was taking the train from Sydney to Perth with friends. We planned that in advance so we had that money set aside. The expensive thing we did on that portion of the trip that was not planned for were the sunset dinner and sunrise breakfast at Uluru. They were pricey ------ we weren't sure when we would be back in that area so we made the decision to go ahead and do it. We are very happy we did. Both events were great. Tasmania was one of our favorite places.
We are looking forward to writing about our next sabbatical. Hope it is sooner than later.
We are very close to Sausilito, thanks for the tip on Spinnakers. We will try that soon. We drove through the Muir Redwoods recently and they are captivating.
Gotta go---- I'm off to read all of your blogs!
Happy Travels
Reply to this If you read my blogs you will see that I have started entering my travels from the very beginning...China/Tibet in 1949. I would load more, faster, but I am trying to find and digitize my family pictures from the mid 1950's to 1972. In 1972 I graduated from college and got married, so my picture collection is pretty complete since then.
Walmart puts 200 slides onto a CD for me for $3. They do about one CD per week so I will be loading more blogs soon. I'm wrestling with how to organize my pictures...by trip or by location. When we lived on Germany and Belgium for 17 years we visited nearby countries so many times I can't remember all the different trips where I visited the locations...so maybe I'll just lump some of our favorite locations into one blog each... still thinking about it. By the way, have you thought about going back to blog some of your earlier trips...they sound fantastic?!
As for your writing, I saw where one of your friends offered advice about writing about your feelings, about the unusual, etc. As an engineer I tend to leave out adjectives, and similies, and literary devices, and am not much into touchy feely. When I do run across a good writer on travelblog (e.g., Scott Tyrell of ScottandAnny or Ed Valence's use of dialog, in addition to the crazy places he goes), I analyze how they write; and think that I should be able to emulate them. But that's just not me. And it wouldn't be you either. Sure you can pick up a few ideas, but I like the way you write so don't worry about your style too much! I do appreciate those blogs that give me enough details that I can use to plan a trip...and yours did that. I guess what makes stories most interesting for me are those that tell about plans that go awry or interesting people you meet.
Reply to this Bob you made me smile - as an environmental engineering lecturer I totally understand your analytical style. My students often say they have less trouble doing calculus and physics than trying to do a case study on engineering ethics or environmental degradation caused by engineering extractive works. :-) Sorry couldnt resist the smiley face!
I am bound by academic terms but manage to fit in three or four or sometimes five shorter trips throughout the year. I will be on long service leave for 6 months next year and plan to do the rest of my round the world trip which was interrupted by lack of funds in the 1980s. I love plans going awry, I love those matrix moments when everything suddenly changes into some wierd parallel universe times. I set out with plans in countries that require planning such as Papua New Guinea, other countries I wing it and often end up nowhere near where I thought I would be.
To Donna and Bridget - your stories are inspiring - thank you for sharing with us.
My plans for the future - when I am an empty nester (not too many years to go now) I intend to just....wander. Im not looking for anything, Im just looking.
Reply to this Dear Cindy,
What a coincidence...I ran the U.S. Navy's environemntal cleanup program for a couple of years in the 1990's. And even before you commented above, I had been reading your recent blogs about your time in Thailand.
I especially related to the one where you cam e back after 27 years (when you were a hippy), and were concerned about the changes that might have taken place to ruin your memories. In 2007 after being away for 24 years I took my three kids to Thailand to show them where I had grown up. My wife didn;t want to join us because she didn't want her memories of the best time of her life to be ruined.
Thailand is completely different...very materialistic and everything has been changed to cater to the tourist trade. Our Thai style house in Bangkok (across from Sam Sen railroad station)is now a restaurant...which made it easy to visit. Our house in Chiang Mai no longer exists, and the peaceful suburb had been concreted over. Nevertheless, my kids were amazed and loved the country. I was a bit disappointed with the changes, but not nearly as much as my wife would have been; and it was wonderful to see my kids reactions.
Reply to this 
