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.
in 2019 I retired and moved to Mexico with the plan of spending much of time in other places. A global pandemic put a temporary hold on those plans, but now that travel is possible again, I’m doing as much as I can.
I like to say I’m not happy unless I’m currently traveling or planning my next trip. I love planning nearly as much as I love traveling, and I always have at least one or two trips on the horizon, so I’m almost always happy!
Before I retired, I worked in Seattle, Washington, as a software architect. Software was my second career; I started out as a music educator, and with three degrees in music, one of my travel-related passions is to attend live performances at some of the worlds great concert halls and opera houses.
I now live in Ajijic, Jalisco, on the north shore of Lago de Chapala, the largest lake in 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. Depending on traffic, I can get to Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla Guadalajara International Airport in 30–45 minutes.
When I’m not traveling, 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
- Turkey
- Azerbaijan
- Georgia
- Armenia
- Panama
- Colombia
- Scotland
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)
- Zurich
- Munich
- Heathrow (London)
- Frankfurt
- Milan Malpensa
- Shannon (Ireland)
- Schiphol (Amsterdam)
- Leonardo Da Vinci (Fiumicino, Rome)
- 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)
- Acapulco
- Cancun
- Istanbul
- İzmir Adnan Menderes
- Antalya
- Kayseri Erkilet
- Heydar Aliyev (Baku)
- Tbilisi
- Zvartnots (Yerevan)
- Istanbul Sabiha Gökçen
- Tocumen (Panama City)
- El Dorado (Bogotá)
- El Edén (Armenia, Quindío, Colombia)
- Medellín Olaya Herrera
- José María Córdova (Medellín)
- Simón Bolívar (Santa Marta)
- Rafael Núñez (Cartagena)
- Edinburgh
US National Parks I’ve visited
(in alphabetical order)
- Acadia
- Arches
- Badlands
- Bryce Canyon
- Crater Lake
- Denali
- Gateway Arch
- 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
- Guerrero
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