Three simple words that describe why I travel
Every once in a while, I come across a few words that seem to sum things up better than a long explanation ever could.
For me, those words are Sail. Explore. Belong.
I’ve spent a good portion of my life traveling. I’ve now sailed on 53 cruises and visited more than 40 countries. I’ve crossed oceans, cruised rivers, traveled through beautiful countryside, wandered through castles and ancient cities, stood in places I’d dreamed about for years, and discovered places I barely knew existed before I arrived.
And apparently, I have no intention of slowing down.
Cruises #54 (Disney) and #55 (Hawaii) are already paid in full, and I’m counting down the days until embarkation. Cruises #56 (Tulip Time), #57 (South East Asia), and #58 (Alaska), are booked and planned for 2027, as well.
There are still a lot of places I want to see.
After all those miles, I’ve realized that the reason I continue to love travel can really be summed up in those three words.
Sail.
If you’ve known me for very long, you probably already know how much I love cruising.
Ocean ships, river ships, large ships, small ships. I’ve experienced a lot of different ways to cruise during those 53 sailings, and I still get excited about stepping aboard. I am, though, more excited about small ships now…my South East Asia cruise only carries 36 passengers. That’s going to be epic!
There’s something about sailing that’s difficult to duplicate with any other kind of vacation. You unpack your suitcase, settle in, and for the next several days or weeks, the journey comes to you.
I’ve watched Alaska glide past from the deck of a ship. I’ve sailed through the Panama Canal. I’ve traveled the Rhine and the Danube, cruised through France, had Thanksgiving dinner, Trick or Treated, celebrated New Year’s Eve aboard a ship, and experienced everything from enormous ocean ships to wonderfully intimate river vessels.
I’ve sailed from Florida, Canada, California, Spain, England, Louisiana, Italy, Texas, The Netherlands, France, Austria & Romania. (I’m probably forgetting some ports here…)
And apparently I really do like sailing with Mickey & Minnie Mouse. Of those 53 cruises, 23 have been Disney cruises!
You might think that after that many cruises, some of the excitement would wear off.
It hasn’t.
I still love walking up the gangway on embarkation day. I still love waking up and looking outside to see where we’ve arrived. And I still love standing on deck as the ship pulls away and another journey begins.
But as much as I love cruising, travel has never been only about ships for me.
Explore.
Some of my favorite adventures have had absolutely nothing to do with being on a ship.
I’ve traveled by motorcoach through beautiful countryside, wandered through cities on foot, explored castles and tiny villages, visited incredible national parks and stood at the edge of landscapes so enormous that photographs could never quite capture them.
I’ve stood in the shadow of Mount Fuji in Japan, explored ancient castles and grand palaces, and found myself in places I’d once only seen in books and photographs.
I’ve taken escorted tours where someone else handled the logistics and I could simply enjoy the journey. I’ve traveled independently and figured things out as I went. I’ve returned to favorite places more than once and still discovered something new.
And yes, I’ve spent plenty of happy days surrounded by castles of an entirely different kind, where a little bit of childhood magic is part of the experience.
That’s what Explore means to me.
It isn’t a particular kind of vacation.
It’s being curious about the world.
Sometimes exploration means traveling halfway around the globe. Sometimes it means walking down a cobblestone street in a small town you’ve never heard of. It might be standing beneath a famous mountain, looking across a canyon that seems to go on forever, traveling through green countryside, tasting something you’ve never tried, or spending a day somewhere that simply makes you happy.
I’ve wandered through European Christmas markets, explored castles in Transylvania, traveled through countryside I’d previously only seen in photographs, walked through historic cities, tasted foods I couldn’t pronounce and discovered destinations I hadn’t expected to love nearly as much as I did.
And some of my favorite travel memories aren’t necessarily the famous ones.
Sometimes it’s tasting chocolate in Mexico, sampling honey in Serbia, discovering a wonderful wine in Croatia, eating a chimney cake in Budapest, or simply sitting somewhere beautiful and having that moment when you think…
I’m really here.
That’s one of the reasons I’m such a believer in bucket-list travel.
Your bucket list doesn’t have to look like anyone else’s. It doesn’t even have to contain the places everyone says you’re “supposed” to see.
Maybe your dream involves an expedition to the end of the world. Maybe it’s an ancient civilization, a spectacular landscape, a European city, a wildlife adventure, an escorted journey through the countryside or a place you’ve loved since you were a child.
That’s the beauty of a bucket list.
It’s your list.
And after visiting more than 40 countries, one thing I’ve learned is that seeing somewhere new rarely makes my list shorter.
It usually gives me three more places I want to go.
The important thing is eventually turning “someday” into “I’ve been there.”
Belong.
This word means more to me the longer I travel.
Because travel isn’t just about places.
It’s about people.
I’ve traveled with family. I’ve traveled with friends. I’ve traveled with clients. I’ve joined groups where I knew almost no one at the beginning and shared experiences with people I might never have met otherwise.
Some of my favorite photographs from my travels aren’t pictures of monuments, castles or landscapes.
They’re pictures of the people who were standing beside me.
That’s the part of travel that doesn’t always make it into a brochure.
It’s laughing over dinner after a long day of sightseeing. It’s someone saying, “Can you believe we’re actually here?” It’s meeting people from somewhere completely different from home. It’s sharing an experience that becomes a story you’ll tell for years.
It’s traveling with your parents while you still have the opportunity. Taking that trip with old friends you’ve talked about for years. Celebrating an anniversary somewhere you’ve always wanted to visit. Meeting new friends on a group trip.
And sometimes it’s traveling solo and discovering that being on your own doesn’t necessarily mean being alone.
Travel has a wonderful way of bringing people together.
That’s belonging.
More Than Checking Boxes
After 53 cruises and more than 40 countries, you’d think my travel list would be getting shorter.
Somehow, the opposite has happened.
Cruises #54 and #55 are paid for and getting closer. Cruises #56, #57 and #58 are already planned and booked. And I can pretty much guarantee that somewhere along the way, I’ll discover another place that makes me think, I need to go there.
Everywhere I travel seems to introduce me to somewhere else I’d like to see.
Maybe that’s also why I still get genuinely excited when someone comes to me and says, “I’ve always wanted to go to…”
I understand that feeling.
My job as a travel advisor is certainly about itineraries, cabins, hotels, flights, transfers and all the little details that go into making a vacation work.
But there’s another part of my job that means even more to me.
I get to help people experience this incredible world for themselves.
I get to help someone finally take the trip they’ve talked about for years.
To celebrate something important. To return to a place they love. To experience somewhere completely outside their comfort zone. To travel with people they care about. Or to finally see a place they never really believed they’d get to see.
That’s a pretty wonderful thing to be part of.
And after 53 cruises, more than 40 countries and with the next five cruises already on the horizon, I’m still every bit as excited about travel as I was when I started.
I hope I never lose that.
There are still extraordinary places I haven’t seen. Foods I haven’t tasted. People I haven’t met. Rivers I haven’t sailed. Roads I haven’t traveled. Cities I haven’t wandered through.
And adventures I haven’t even thought of yet.
So keep your bucket list.
Add to it whenever something inspires you.
And, most importantly, start crossing a few things off.
Sail. Explore. Belong.
I can’t think of three better reasons to travel.
T.T.F.N.
Kenneth
Cleared For Take-Off! 