Travel Tips

Before Wally and I left on the trip to Denmark and Iceland, I did a lot of advance preparation, going to the library for books about the two countries and writing ahead for reservations in the places we would visit. (International phone calls were expensive, and the internet had not been invented.)

The next year I left on the spur of the moment to go camping with David. I had no plan except to return to Pennsylvania where I had been happy. It worked out just fine.

When Wally brought home tickets to Frankfurt, Germany, the only advance preparations I made were to reserve a rental car and to write Karl that we were coming.. David and I bounced around Europe for three weeks finding places to eat and sleep as we drove from town to town.

After Wally and I divorced, a friend persuaded me to take to Europe with us a third party, a woman I had never met. The two were not interested in anything I wanted to see. We went to Switzerland just because the other woman wanted to buy a watch. I learned: Rather than letting uncongenial people dictate the itinerary, I enjoyed my trips more traveling alone

Then came my “big trip”: six months in Britain and on the Continent. I bought a new car, which I picked up in Germany and drove alone all around Western Europe. In some places I went, no one spoke English. With smiles and gestures, I managed.

The only place where I had trouble was in France. With two years of French in college, I thought I understood the lingo. At a restaurant “Alsace” in Chartres, the menu was utterly confusing. The waitress did not speak English. I ordered the “specialty”, expecting a delicious French meal. I was served a big platter of sausages and sauerkraut, a dish I hate. I forgot that for centuries Alsace-Lorraine was disputed between France and Germany. Now a part of France, the people are predominately German-speaking. Lovers of sausage and sauerkraut.

I married John. Every day I spent with John was a joy. He kept me laughing during the six months I was on chemo after cancer surgery. We didn’t let cancer keep us from traveling. From our home in New Mexico we drove all over the U.S., from San Diego to Vancouver, Canada, and from Florida to New York, plus annual trips to Chicago.

John took me to Europe twice. One summer we exchanged our little house in Albuquerque for one in Ipswich, England. Better than traveling alone is going with a perfect companion.

After John died, I went on tours with Elderhostel and Grand Circle. I let someone else arrange for places to eat and sleep. Most important for me, someone else handled my luggage. I was tired of lugging my big suitcase in and out of the car. Let someone else put it on the bus.

Most of the time I let the tour find me a roommate. Some I never saw again. I also made true friends. My dearest friend, whom I met in Sicily, is Gertrude Bergen from New York City.