Anne and I have been fortunate to have been able to enjoy traveling around the globe for many years. We haven't been able to do so because we're rich, not by a long shot. It's primarily because we share an intense love of travel and experiencing new cultures and locations. While others buy vacation homes at the shore, big expensive diamonds, or numerous other things, Anne and I spend our money traveling. We've also been fortunate because the last 24 years I've spent extensively traveling for business. That's earned an awful lot of "frequent flyer" bonuses over the years, and we've taken advantage of that. While it doesn't reduce the cost of the trip to nothing it can help significantly defray some of the major costs like airfare and hotels. Our first trip abroad was in 1970 when we did Switzerland, Italy, Austria and Germany following the "Europe on $5 A Day" guide. We've certainly come a long way since then, and we still love to travel. When we're not traveling we're either trying to select the next destination or planning the trip if the destination has been selected already.

Even with all the traveling we've done we still have a long list of "to do and visit" places. I'm afraid as time passes and we attain something on our list we just end up adding something else to the bottom of the list. Some of the things we've already crossed off our list include:

Ringing the Peace Bell at Peace Park, Hiroshima, Japan
Standing at the foot of the Matterhorn, Zermatt, Switzerland
Entering the tombs of the Pharaohs, Valley of the Kings, Luxor, Egypt
Climbing to the burial chamber of the Great Pyramid, Giza, Egypt
Walking the streets where Jesus once walked, Jerusalem, Israel
Cruising the Nile River, Egypt
Discovering Anne's birthplace, Villach, Austria
Walking the ancient ruins of Rome, Italy
Spending a week in a little hut over the water, Moorea, French Polynesia
Cruising the canals of Venice, Italy
Visiting the Vatican, Rome, Italy
Enjoying the Canadian Rockies, Alberta, Canada
Enjoying the US Rocky Mountains, Colorado, USA
Cruising the Mediterranean Sea
Walking among the ruins of the Acropolis, Athens, Greece
Making and enjoying new friends around the world
Riding on the Star Ferry, Hong Kong
Riding the high-speed hydrofoil to Macau
Riding the Shinkaseen bullet trains, Japan
Seeing Mt. Fuji, Japan
Diving with sharks, Rangiroa, French Polynesia
Flying the Concorde to Europe
Climbing to the top of Notre Dame, Paris, France
Climbing to the top of the Eiffel Tower, Paris, France
Visiting Mt. Rushmore, South Dakota, USA
Enjoying Walt Disney World, Orlando, Florida, USA
Walking in Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Virginia, USA
Watching the Sunrise from the Haleakala Crater, Maui, Hawaii, USA
Visiting San Francisco, California, USA
Seeing a Moose in the wild, Alberta, Canada
Viewing the Rosetta Stone, British Museum, London, England
Visiting Drewry artifacts in England today

The list goes on and on as you can see so I won't bore you by adding more entries to the bottom. Instead Anne and I will share with you our current top ten list of "to do and visit" places: