The daughter of two Dutch immigrants, I was bitten by the travel bug at an early age. I was especially inspired by my dad, who loved exploring new places as often as possible. He toted his beloved Minolta camera everywhere. “Photo, photo!” he would shout in his thick Frisian accent as he beckoned us into his shot. He especially loved old churches, and believe me—we saw many. I’ve resurrected some of my dad’s many photos for this website as a tribute to him and to share them with the world. You can see a compilation of his photos here.
My dad’s older brother, Sietze (Sam), shared his passion for travel, and it was something he did often. He married a Costa Rican, and while to this day I’m not certain how they met, I do know that he loved the lush, natural beauty of that country. He once told me that his favorite trip was to Tanzania. I hope to make it there one day!
At age 23, I was working as a concierge at the Four Seasons Hotel while finishing up graduate school. Roy, who was studying to become a pilot at the time, was one of the hotel’s limousine drivers. One thing led to another, and we eventually started dating. True to form, our first date involved grunion hunting on a local beach. Since I had grown up in California, Roy was incredulous that I had never heard of these weird little creatures, so he became determined to show them to me. Sadly, the grunion didn’t run that night, but being persistent, Roy kept taking me out there until they did. You can read more about grunions here.
Like me, Roy had grown up on the beaches of Southern California. A former surfer, all-American water polo player, and water sports fanatic, Roy is naturally athletic and enthusiastic about everything water-related. We soon found ourselves with a 14-foot Hobie catamaran, which we sailed (and capsized) pretty much every weekend.
We got married in the spring of 1991. Eventually, our family grew, and over the next few decades, we traveled as far and as often as we could with our two kids. We are truly lucky because we have a knack for nudging each other outside of our comfort zones.
Thirty years, two kids, four homes, three boats, and two careers later, Roy turned to me one day and asked, “What would you think about retiring on a boat?” I’m pretty sure he wasn’t expecting the response he got: “That sounds awesome!” Given our history, I wasn’t surprised in the least by this proposition; instead, I viewed it as a perfect next step in our evolution. So at the ages of 57 (me) and 60 (Roy), we lugged all of our belongings to storage, rented out our house, and moved onto a sailing catamaran, our current home!
I created this website to share some of our travels with our friends, our family, and anyone else who wants to follow along. It’s not meant to serve as a travel guide. In fact, we try to get off the beaten path and experience unfiltered culture whenever possible.
Check out my global photo gallery: it attempts to describe our experiences in twelve images or less per destination (twelve moments). These are moments that surprised, amused, intrigued, or otherwise moved us.
Most of the photos on this website were shot on my fifteen-year-old Nikon D90, on a compact camera, or on my iPhone. Nothing fancy. Any photos taken by others are noted accordingly and reflect a vivid memory from the trip that we loved but somehow didn’t get to capture.
We invite you to follow our journey and hope you enjoy it!
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