Fall, 2024:

I started this book almost 15 years ago.  It took a while to get going and in the mean time I went on more trips, and the book expanded.  I decided to make my 80^th birthday the hard stop for writing the adventures. 

This book is actually three books in one.  Part one is a bit about me before I began traveling.  Part two is what I learned along the way once I began traveling.  The third part tells about some of the trips that I took.  

How did I start keeping trip logs, which I ultimately used to write the “Special Places” section of this book? Early in my travels, I started writing emails to my children to keep them up to date on my adventures, while oversees.  I enlarged the email list to include siblings and friends and discovered that I love writing. For about 20 years I submitted articles to “International Travel News” until that wonderful magazine became a Covid casualty.  In addition, when my grandchildren entered college, I would write them a monthly letter and requested that they call me when they receive the letter.  (I put some cash in the letters, while they were in college to encourage the calls).  My grandson, Noah suggested that some of my letters include my early travel adventures, taken when they were too young to be on the trip distribution list.  In order to keep their interest level high, I re-wrote those adventures, highlighting the exciting parts, rather than give them a log of the trip.  These letters were a great help in writing the “Special Places” chapters.

We are still traveling but it is harder as we age.  I will address these issues in my final chapter: “What’s Next?”

Thank you also to all of the family members and friends who “go” on my trips with me, via my emails.  A number of you suggested I write this book.  So here goes: