There have only been a few occasions when I didn’t enjoy spending time with a fellow traveler. Usually I will come away with at least one new locale that would be added to my list of places I needed to visit.  Sometimes it is only a restaurant or a shop but I’m always on the lookout for a country my new friend has explored and loved. What fun it is when I return with a previously uncharted new dream.

I am always amazed by those who have embarked on a long journey without any specific timeline.  Often these wanderers seem to “go with the flow” not even sure where they will end up. I am no longer that much of a free spirit…money, lodging, the next meal, transportation and comfort all weigh on my mind more these days.  That said, I’m not so rigid that I could join a group for an extended period with everything planned on a tight schedule.  I guess I’m somewhere between.

I have done two multi-month trips in my life; once when I was twenty and another when I was fifty-five.  Both times I went alone and managed to have a wonderful time.  At sixty-five I packed up and moved to a foreign country for a year and a half, again by myself. Again it was a delightful experience but found out I wasn’t ready to “settle-down”, I still had the travel bug and it is much easier to find great fares out of the USA.

I did meet an Australian woman in the Galapagos, close in age to me, who had never stopped like I did for years to raise a family.  We had fun for a few minutes comparing adventures until I ran out and she was able to “ramble” on. Needless to say, I came home with a long list…..and hopefully enough years to catch up!