58

Today is my 58th birthday. I'm still here. I'm still traveling. I'm still blogging. And I'm still thankful for all that. I feel like I'm slowing down physically and I'm waaaay too fat but everytime I get away and get more active than I am at my desk-bound day job, I feel younger and rejuventated. That must be a sign, right? That I need to spend more time on the road? I'm thinking yes. 

I need to work on the fatness thing. That's my issue to work like imminently.

My 58th year around the sun had us on four trips, three of which were at least a week long, with a couple of New York City weekends sprinkled in here and there and a bonus almost weeklong remote work week in New Orleans. I swear one day we'll make it to New York for more than just a weekend or long weekend with an extended stay in that city that we love so much. Last Labor Day we made it a theater weekend with four shows in three days. Give me more time in New York for more shows, Broadway or otherwise. Soon, I hope.

What blew me away this year? Honestly, like everything. Not every minute of every trip that we took but there was something astonishing, exciting, fascinating, delicious, eye-opening or just totally brand new on every vacation we took. It's actually pretty stunning that travel can do that for me (in addition to the feeling younger and rejuvenating thing). I cannot believe how gorgeous the Canadian Rocky Mountains are. I could have spent weeks there. That trip was a whim that got fleshed out pretty quickly and turned into a reality that was well worth it. I want to go back to those mountains and to the Stampede.

I also can't believe that I took my fourth safari trip in the last year (this one to South Africa) and that I actually found something in nine days in Wales that ended up far, far better than my childhood memories that were preventing me from agreeing to go back to that part of Great Britain. This year, I've watched lions and elephants and all sort of other creatures on safari and walked with sheep and spent a day on a remote islands with an enormous quantity of puffins and a few other species of birds. It's crazy the sort of stuff we can get up to when we find ourselves deliberately moving away from home for a spell.

And that Antelope Canyon in Arizona was pretty darned satisfying too.

The only real mistake I think we made this year was scheduling no travel (short of a weekend in NYC) in the 4-1/2 months between early November and late March. Why do I continue to have three plus long stretches of calendar time with no traveling? I'll try to do better.

Horseshoe Bend, Colorado River, Arizona.

Two years ago on this date, I swore off travel goals. That was after year 11 of this blog when I finally finished what I committed to at the beginning of year five (I had until the end of year 10 to complete those...). Today, I'm reaffirming that swearing off. I'm not saying that there will never be travel goals ever again but there won't be any until at least my 59th birthday. Maybe I'll make it an even 60. I do feel the pull of South America. I might need to scratch that itch soon. I'm just not sure it's going to be a goal. And not sure that's getting scratched in the next 12 months.

I'm super excited about the next year of travel. Finishing out 2026 are two North American (and non-U.S.) trips I've longed to take for a while. One north and one south. Polar bears and beluga whales and cemetery visits and the food of my spiritual homeland. Finally being able to knock those off an ever-changing list of things that I'm craving to experience is going to be amazing. These trips are going to be a bit of a splurge, a reward for the two of us making each other stay at work and earning money for a little while longer.

Anything after that? Well, sure, I mean what else are we supposed to do. I'm thinking two re-run trips to warmer places in the southern half of the United States and a long deserved trip back to continental Europe (after 3-1/2 years away). There's sort of an idea or two in there but it's sort  of definitely going to happen. 

So when do we get back on the road? Well, we just got back so let's give it at least a month or so. And no three plus month long stays at home. Not this year. No sir! 

Kruger National Park, South Africa. This is exactly what safari is like. LOVE this pic.