I hardly consider myself a great world traveler, but I love to travel. I have been to a lot of places considering I got a late start. Until my sophomore year in college, I’d been to a total of six states, all in the northeastern USA. Since then I’ve been working hard to make up for lost time.
Until the Covid-19 pandemic hit, I was constantly either on a trip or planning the next one. In fact, I had a trip planned to Israel in September 2020. That had to be postponed several times, and finally I canceled it altogether.
But after I was vaccinated, I started to get back to travel. In May 2021 I took a ten-day road trip to the Mexican states of Zacatecas and Aguascalientes. Then in late July I went on a three-day tour to Guanajuato, in October I went on a tour to Copper Canyon, and in December I did another road trip, seven days in western Jalisco and Nayarit.
And now I’m back to serious travel planning. In April and May 2022 I visited Peru and Ecuador, with excursions to Machu Picchu and the Galápagos. Coming up later this year is a trip to Turkey and the Caucasus, and in 2023 I already have two trips planned, to Panama and Colombia, and to Egypt, Israel, and Jordan (finally).
I am a retired software architect living the good life in Ajijic, Jalisco, Mexico. One reason I chose this spot to retire is that it is close enough to an international airport that I can still get away for the travel I long to do.
When I’m not traveling, and when there isn’t a global pandemic, I can usually be found playing bridge at the Lake Chapala Duplicate Bridge Club, playing pub trivia, taking my dog for walks on the malecón, or enjoying the many fine restaurants in this community of a mix of locals and expats from the US and Canada.
See my list of favorite travel blogs and websites
Countries I’ve visited
(in chronological order)
- Canada
- France
- Switzerland
- Germany
- Austria
- Hungary
- England
- Wales
- Liechtenstein
- Italy
- Ireland
- Mexico
- Denmark
- Sweden
- Estonia
- Finland
- Iceland
- Croatia
- Slovenia
- Bosnia and Herzegovina
- Montenegro
- Belgium
- Netherlands
- Norway
- Chile
- Argentina
- Brazil
- Costa Rica
- Czechia
- Poland
- Cuba
- Peru
- Ecuador
Airports I’ve flown through
US Airports (in random order)
- Ted Stevens Anchorage
- Seattle-Tacoma
- Seldovia (Alaska)
- Phoenix Sky Harbor
- Los Angeles
- Palm Springs
- San Diego
- San Francisco
- Norman Y. Mineta San Jose
- Boulder Municipal
- Tampa
- Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta
- Honolulu
- Lihue
- Stapleton (former Denver airport)
- O’Hare
- Chicago Midway
- General Wayne A. Downing Peoria (Illinois)
- Barkley Regional (Paducah, Kentucky)
- Louis Armstrong New Orleans
- Portland (Maine)
- Baltimore/Washington
- Detroit Metropolitan
- Minneapolis-Saint Paul
- St. Louis Lambert
- McCarran (Las Vegas)
- Reno-Tahoe
- Manchester-Boston Regional (New Hampshire)
- Newark Liberty
- Buffalo Niagara
- LaGuardia (New York)
- John F. Kennedy (New York)
- Long Island MacArthur (New York)
- Syracuse Hancock (New York)
- Westchester County (New York)
- Charlotte Douglas
- Cleveland Hopkins
- Dallas-Fort Worth
- William P. Hobby (Houston)
- George Bush Intercontinental (Houston)
- San Antonio
- Ronald Reagan Washington
- Dulles (Washington, D.C.)
- Boeing Field (Seattle)
- Juneau
- Homer (Alaska)
- John Wayne (Santa Ana, California)
- Philadelphia
- Austin-Bergstrom (Texas)
- Talkeetna (Alaska)
International Airports (in chronological order)
- Charles de Gaulle (Paris)
- Frankfurt
- Munich
- Shannon (Ireland)
- Milan Malpensa
- Leonardo Da Vinci (Fiumicino, Rome)
- Schiphol (Amsterdam)
- Zurich
- Heathrow (London)
- Keflavik (Iceland)
- Oslo
- Copenhagen
- Helsinki
- Zagreb Franjo Tuđman
- Dubrovnik
- Brussels
- Bergen (Norway)
- Trondheim (Norway)
- Mataveri (Rapa Nui, Chile)
- Jorge Newbery (Buenos Aires)
- Santiago (Chile)
- Bariloche (Argentina)
- El Tepual (Puerto Montt, Chile)
- Presidente Carles Ibáñez del Campo (Punta Arenas, Chile)
- El Calafate (Argentina)
- Cataratas (Iguazú, Argentina)
- Foz do Iguaçu (Brazil)
- Galeão (Rio de Janeiro)
- Mexico City
- Juan Santamaria (San Jose, Costa Rica)
- Drake Bay (Costa Rica)
- Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla (Guadalajara)
- Václav Havel (Prague)
- Lech Walesa (Gdansk)
- Licenciado Gustavo Díaz Ordaz (Puerto Vallarta)
- Jose Marti (Havana, Cuba)
- Tijuana
- General Roberto Fierro Villalobos (Chihuahua)
- Jorge Chávez (Lima)
- Alejandro Velasco Astete (Cusco)
- Mariscal Sucre (Quito)
- José Joaquín de Olmedo (Guayaquil)
- Seymour Galápagos Ecological (Baltra Island, Galápagos)
US National Parks I’ve visited
(in alphabetical order)
- Acadia
- Arches
- Badlands
- Bryce Canyon
- Crater Lake
- Denali
- Glacier
- Grand Canyon
- Grand Teton
- Joshua Tree
- Kenai Fjords
- Mammoth Cave
- Mesa Verde
- Mount Rainier
- North Cascades
- Olympic
- Rocky Mountain
- Yellowstone
- Zion
Mexican States I’ve visited
(in chronological order)
- Baja California
- CDMX
- Morelos
- Jalisco
- Michoacán
- Zacatecas
- Aguascalientes
- Guanajuato
- Chihuahua
- Nayarit
Mexican Pueblos Mágicos I’ve visited
(in chronological order)
- Tepoztlán, Morelos
- Tlaquepaque, Jalisco
- Ajijic, Jalisco
- Pátzcuaro, Michoacán
- Tequila, Jalisco
- Mazamitla, Jalisco
- Lagos de Moreno, Jalisco
- Pinos, Zacatecas
- Guadalupe, Zacatecas
- Sombrerete, Zacatecas
- Jerez, Zacatecas
- Asientos, Aguascalientes
- San José de Gracia, Aguascalientes
- Calvillo, Aguascalientes
- Nochistlán, Zacatecas
- Teúl de González Ortega, Zacatecas
- Creel, Chihuahua
- Talpa de Allende, Jalisco
- Mascota, Jalisco
- San Sebastián del Oeste, Jalisco
- Sayulita, Nayarit
- Compostela, Nayarit
- Jala, Nayarit
- Tapalpa, Jalisco