Travel

I have digested two European trips in the last month, at opposite ends of the experience spectrum. I have reflected a bit on why I remain passionate about travel and how my satisfaction with it is changing with time. I would enjoy comments and reflections from anyone with whom this change is shared.

So, retired for a few years and Covid isolation is over. Travel is an option—where to go and why?  Consider some very different trips— some trips are trips—with a specific place to go to and things to see and some are for vacation with an emphasis on relaxation. Sometimes, trips are both.  In my alternate life, I might have been an archeologist and so, motivation has led to Rome, Athens, Ephesus, Mycenae, Troy, Delphi, Hadrian’s wall, Machu Pichu, Chichen Itza, Angkor Wat, stupas in Myanmar…..you get the idea.

Another example: I once took a medical missionary trip to Eastern Nicaragua for a ten day “vacation. ” This was hard-earned vacation built on an at times overwhelming work life as a doctor.  While I worked hard while based in Puerto Cabezas, staying in an awful hotel in a town the State Department advised my having nothing to do with, the two days at the end, a visit Managua and the surrounding sights, did nothing to embellish the delightful sense of having decompressed and to have seen something different during a much needed break—I lived in another world, one very different than mine. This was a very stimulating and a complete surprise. I went with a sense of sacrificing my time for some good cause and came back energized.

I traveled the Camino de Compostela this April and May for a relatively short 7 days. I was alone and in the country doing the physical work of walking to occupy me eight hours a day. I came home from this with a sense of adventure and accomplishment, but was tired and needed a vacation from my vacation if you will. I was not stimulated or satisfied that an itch had been scratched — and I was disappointed not so much in the trip, but in myself!

Subsequently, I took a small boat cruise of the Mediterranean from Naples to Lisbon in May and June. This mirrored, to a small degree, a previous cruise I took on Regent Cruises, a high-end large (but not giant) cruise ship the year before. The difference in average age, social position, and wealth was a bit different comparing the two cruises. I was surprised to find that my critique of both cruises was very similar despite the obvious differences in accommodations, entertainment on board, and dining experiences.

Take Sardinia as an example: I accumulated (at two different ports of call) 4 hours of bus time traveling for about 3 and a half hours of museum, sight seeing, and meal time . The terrain of Sardinia is not unlike that of North San Diego County traveling to Riverside. I can’t say the experience with either cruise once on land was qualitatively or quantitatively different. I own part of this—in both experiences I did not do my homework on what I would prefer to see but rather chose from a menu of choices all covered by the cruise line. So the deal and checking boxes (“Have you ever been to Sardinia?”)all led to an imperfect time once there.

This is lazy. It is also hard to solve.  Had I booked some time in Alghero (Sardinia), the most common entertainment was to be had on boats at sea: sight seeing, snorkling, or fishing. How can you know for sure ahead of time when you can get off the ship and when you need to be back when booking such things months/weeks in advance? In this case, a crane disaster found us re directed to another port; we only reached this port by bus.

While the time constraints in port can be difficult, finding and communicating with a local tour company ahead of time can enrich the experience greatly. If it comes at an additional cost, I have to say by the close of this last experience, it is well worth it. There is the additional subjective value of moving away from the herd heading to a bus and to that private vehicle waiting just for you…..

Consider Gaeta (Italy); everyone on board but a handful of us went to Monte Casino. Gaeta is an industrial  town with miles of boat repair facilities, and just on the horizon, a castle on a hill, a cathedral on a hill and coastline within reach if you wanted to walk a couple miles. We arranged for a taxi and my first interaction with fellow passengers was trying:  an elderly British couple objected when my expected taxi arrived and I started to get it. It was the taxi they had called for. I was gracious and suggested we share it. They agreed. I conversed with the driver and learned that the museum in the castle was not open yet nor were any other places. He drove us to the top of a hill and dropped us off, asking for 20 euro’s a couple. The British husband was only willing to pay ten because, “we are splitting the cost which was 20 per couple which he now interpreted to mean for the ride itself. The British wife objected to my attempt to pay all but the ten Euros. She noted, “it just was not right” and she repeated her point of view over and over and over, long after the taxi was gone. In fact the taxi driver thought it was unreasonable and took my twenty, their ten, and beat the retreat. There was a 45 minute wait for the museum to open and I grabbed Kernie to head downhill. Kernie felt they were old and vulnerable and worried about them. To their credit, they made it back to the ship before we did and continued to tell their story of the sketchy cab driver for the rest of the evening. Kernie and I enjoyed a delightful descent into a small town through covered “streets” built centuries ago. We had the best coffee and pastry I have had in some time for half the price we would be charged at a Starbucks. We enjoyed the sun in a small town where absolutely nothing was open. We walked back to the ship with another couple and called it a day as we sailed out of the harbor by 2:00 in the afternoon. I think we made lemonade out of lemons, but barely.

LIke many people, I have a “romantic” sense of travel. When this last trip was available, I was intrigued by the notion of being on a boat that approximated that of a river cruise (100 passengers) and going to small ports in places I never thought I would ever see: Sardina, Corsica, Mallorca, Minorca, Cadiz, Cartagena, and Porto Mão.  I have a very good friend who has been to the Falklands. I have others who aspire to Easter Island and increasingly the Antarctic. Gibralter anyone? I begin to wonder if we all don’t have a bit of a need to “check boxes” re exotic destinations. I know I do— but having just done it, am wondering what it is I am really seeking, especially when the contact is in fact limited to a few hours.  One is left with good and bad impressions following my example to date: Bonificio in Corsica was a delight to walk through and experience. I did not need to spend days there. Minorca’s short 6 hour exposure found me wishing for more—so perhaps cruises offer one a screening service for places that might merit a deeper look later—And I just met someone at volleyball who has a friend and who visits Palma every couple of years……

An option that worked well for me decades ago was with a group of friends and acquaintances: we took a week in Province, France and a few years later, in Tuscany, sharing an old farm house both times with rooms for each couple. We drove to cities near and far with a home base to return to and relax and cook our own meals. This was a great mix of relaxing vacation and checking those boxes.

Another dimension to travel on a boat now is the company you keep. With age, I am finding the ability to find another couple(s) to link up with on such trips is declining and for the first time, it became clear that for dinner, we were not welcome at the “young table.”  That was a first and it stung a little. Undaunted, we found our peers and together with yet one more couple dominated a trivial pursuit contest in the bar that required knowledge of the Twin Peaks theme song (TV) and the birth order of Aristotle, Socrates, Plato (I asked if we got extra credit if we noted the birthdays). I was reminded today when talking about people of advanced age selling the home and moving into a retirement community that some leave within months, because, “it was full of old people!”  My last dinner on board found the loud dining room making conversation hard to follow; the couple next to me laughed at something and the woman, two chairs away, asked if I heard them, as if embarrassed if I had. I replied, “No.”

Her reply?  “Welcome to the old table!”

Yep.

Years ago, Kernie stumbled on the idea of taking food tours for both the experience but also, learning about a new city.  The most successful of these have been in Vancouver, BC, Greenwich Village, NYC, Amsterdam, Rio de Janeiro, and Puerto Vallarta, Mx. The recent Vantage tour in the Mediterranean offered food tours but they were universally poor with the exception of offerings at vintners (Portugal and Sardinia) where a very filling lunch with lots of very good options was offered with wine tastings. A stroll in Naples or Cadiz for such a tour found us in heavily touristed areas with seas of tourists off Las Vegas sized ships and being served uninspired bar food without any context or touring to make the city come alive. Again, I think such tours exist and it requires pre trip homework, paying some extra money, and making the schedule (when is the drop dead time to be on board that day) work.

Unexpected experiences require adjustment but are often enriching. Embrace them! We were in Naples when that city’s soccer team won the Italian championship. That was an experience that made being a tourist difficult. At the end of the trip in Lisbon, Portugal beat out Spain and a European competition. That however was a sideline for me as our last dinner together found us in an old ballroom eating dinner, drinking wine, and being treated to a Fado. I have a romantic attachment to music sung in Portuguese and this was my second Fado. The first one, many years ago was better but is hardly remember but for the tears: I drank too much at that one. This one was respectable and well remembered and a complete surprise.

The other unexpected part of travel is one’s spouse’s suggestion. I despise looking like a tourist when in Europe and try to dress like a local: slacks, nice shirt, leather shoes. Kernie, when in Barcelona, booked a Segway city tour and I balked but then caved--b

The best hotel room in Puerto Cabezas!

est city tour I ever had. Firstly, you get to develop a new skill, riding the thing. Secondly, you cover much more ground than you could walking. Thirdly, no local or tourist gives a rip!  Though not a food tour, the Segway tour stopped at an old bar where I was introduced to a variety of seafood I never thought I would eat and means to delivering wine I had never seen. Doing something I swore I would never do paid off—Thank you, Kernie.

Kern keeps musing (for months now, sometimes to me and sometimes when talking to acquaintances) that I am, “done” with travel. I don’t think that is true (and told her that) but do think my expectations and needs have changed since we started traveling internationally.—our first European vacation included ten days of biking. We were the core group at the young table on that trip. Things change. More travel is in the cards with a little more thought on customizing the trip and being willing to spend a little more to make it worthwhile. Most importantly though is not choosing from a menu but rather thinking through where you want to go and why, exactly with the planning that follows to make it so.

PS: there is something to be said for staycations. Also, a corollary: Kernie and I will once a year take vacations apart—they are usually short and a half day’s travel away, but very worthwhile and besides, someone has to take care of the dog…….