My husband’s cousin shared a humorous travel quote with us a few years ago. He and his wife are avid travelers, as are his sister and her husband. I’m not sure where he found the quote, but it makes you think.
In your 60s, it’s go, go, go.
In your 70s, it’s slow, slow, slow.
In your 80s, it’s no, no, no!
In other words, if you’re interested in traveling, you’d better do it while you are able.
Let’s Travel!
My husband and I enjoy traveling, although we notice it’s becoming more challenging the older we get. Even so, we aren’t ready to put away our suitcases just yet. We have two trips planned before the year’s end, so we’re always ready for our next adventure.
We do a lot of our traveling in the spring. We enjoy spending the summer and fall in the mountains of North Carolina, so spring seems a good time to explore. A couple of months ago, we went on a cruise with his sister and brother-in-law. It was a fantastic trip; one we will remember for a lifetime.
As we have been home for a few weeks, I have thought about what made our trip so enjoyable.
The Importance of Good Traveling Companions
First, traveling with people you are fond of and who you get along with is crucial. It is important to have similar likes and expectations. We were together for 20 days, and you can’t do that with just anyone.
We spent the first three days in Barcelona. It was our first time in Spain, so we enjoyed experiencing a new culture. The second day we were in Barcelona, we took a city tour and then embarked on our cruise ship. We were still in port the following day. My sister-in-law and I went on one more city tour while the guys opted to stay behind to relax and enjoy the pool. It was fine! Everyone had a great day.
The four of us fell into a routine of breakfast on our own, meeting up for our shore excursion for the day, then attending the lecture geared to whatever port we were in. We always ate dinner together and then went to the theater to enjoy the evening’s entertainment. It was the perfect balance of time together and time on our own.
The cruise itinerary we chose had two options in the spring and two in the fall. One of the spring tours fell during Holy Week. With my parents gone and our kids out of state, we knew it would only be the two of us for Easter, so we decided it would be a good time to travel. There were pros and cons about traveling over Easter.
The Wonder of Experiencing New Cultures
Experiencing a major holiday in a different culture was rewarding. I did not know how big Holy Week (Semana Santa) was in Spain before our trip this spring. It is really a big deal, and we enjoyed witnessing some of the celebration.
Crowds of visitors filled every Spanish city we visited. While we were on a tour in Barcelona, we saw a procession of giant papier mache figures marching down a street a few blocks away. It is a Catalan tradition that dates back hundreds of years. In Cartagena, people draped purple or red banners along the main street’s balconies, and they set up chairs in front of the town hall. As we were walking, we saw a parade of “Roman soldiers” heading to the Town Hall for a Semana Santa program.
Our last stop in Spain, the city of Málaga, was the most interesting. We were supposed to begin our tour with a hilltop view of the city, but our bus could not make the stop because it was simply too crowded. It was Maundy Thursday.
We enjoyed our tour of the city despite the crowds. Towards the end of the tour, we walked down the main street in town, which was a beautiful marble pedestrian street. Someone had draped all the balconies on the buildings along the street in red. Men were setting out chairs along the street to prepare for one of the hours-long processionals occurring later in the day. Our tour guide stopped and spoke to a well-dressed gentleman standing in front of a small museum run by one of the Spanish brotherhoods. Our guide secured permission for us to enter and see one of the massive floats, or Pasos, that 150-200 men would carry through the streets of Cartagena. I’ve never seen anything like it.
When we left the center of town to get to our bus to go to the ship, we walked down a boulevard lined with grandstands for the viewing of the processionals. It was like what you would see at the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade or the Rose Bowl Parade.
While we did not get to witness the procession, we got to see two of the floats being prepared for the procession. We had a taste of how significant these celebrations were for this Spanish town. I found a video on YouTube that shows the float we saw in the small museum. Click here if you would like to watch it.
We spent Good Friday and Easter Sunday at sea, with a stop in Portugal in between. The cruise ship had a non-denominational Easter service on Sunday morning. It was well done, and we enjoyed singing the Easter hymns. We were pleased to find carved ham and deviled eggs served for lunch, almost like home. Our room steward even left us Lindt chocolate bunnies and eggs to enjoy.
Overall, spending the Easter holiday at sea was fine. It was interesting to see how another culture celebrated it. But, I think, in the future I would prefer to be at home with family and friends for the holiday.
The Joy Of Checking Off Items On Your Bucket-List
We enjoyed a couple of “bucket-list” experiences on the cruise. The first was a stop at the Beaches of Normandy. Wow, just wow. I love history, and I thought I knew a little about D-Day, but I was blown away by how much I didn’t know. It surprised me that the stretch of coastline on which the thousands of soldiers landed was 50 miles wide. I also didn’t realize that the landing on the beach at Normandy was just the beginning of a months-long ordeal.
We ate lunch and visited a museum in the village of Arromanches-les-Bains at Juno Beach. Afterwards, we went to the Normandy American Cemetery and Omaha Beach. It was an almost sacred feeling walking through the field of white marble crosses. My eyes teared when I turned the corner and saw the names etched in each of the crosses, which were plain on the other side. It was poignant to realize that each of those crosses had a name associated with it—someone’s son, brother, father, uncle, grandfather, fiancé, friend. All I could think of was how terrifying that day must have been.
Another bucket-list item was seeing the tulips in the Netherlands. We visited Keukenhof Gardens last year when we were on our river cruise, but we were a little late to see the tulips in the fields. While we visited the gardens two weeks earlier this year, we were still a little late. We saw some tulips in the fields, but not as many as we had hoped to see. Even so, they were beautiful, and we were so happy to have experienced them again. (Jim says he’s ok with not seeing the tulips again—ha!) A funny thing, the day we were there was incredibly crowded. Most days probably are because it’s only open eight weeks out of the year. That evening, as I was looking at social media, I discovered two people I knew from home were at the gardens on the same day! Small world, indeed.
When Tours Include Tears
I want to share with you one more thing that happened on our trip. It’s something that caught me off guard, causing an unexpected reaction.
It was a frigid, rainy day when we toured Bruges, Belgium. The sky hung dreary and overcast. There were two elderly gentlemen in our tour group, probably brothers. I had seen them on the ship several times. Anyway, they had trouble keeping up with the fast-paced tour guide. One gentleman shuffled along, hunched over with his windbreaker askew. He wasn’t very tall and reminded me so much of my dad in the way he looked, how he walked, and even some mannerisms. Seeing this gentleman, who reminded me so much of my dad, hit me hard; so hard that the tears in my eyes turned into a silent weeping. I had to hang back from the group a few minutes simply to compose myself. Anyone who has lost someone can relate to the out-of-nowhere incidents that bring our loved ones to mind, along with some tears.
Our tour group split up in different directions to explore Bruges. My husband, sister-in-law, brother-in-law, and I stopped to get some Belgian hot chocolate to warm us up before continuing on. It helped. In the short time we had, we saw as much as we could of the charming town.
As we were walking back to the bus, I saw a couple walking two corgis. Corgis always remind me of my mom, so it was like she was telling me she knew I was sad about my dad, but to keep smiling, because how can you not smile at corgis?
I could go on and on about our spectacular trip, but it would probably bore you. Perhaps, I’ll share more at another time. My husband and I feel very blessed to travel, experience fresh places, see amazing things, and all with people who are very special to us. I hope you can do the same, even if it’s in your own backyard, city, or state.
How about you? Have you ever been on a once-in-a-lifetime trip? What is the most unusual thing you have experienced while traveling? The most beautiful? The funnest? Or are you more of a homebody? I would love to hear.
Kim Wilbanks 