Off The Path

I have always been one who likes to travel off the beaten path.

I don’t go on Group Tours (unless they are 1 Day ones) and I don’t like travelling by myself.

I have used all sorts of different traveling methods: an Old Soviet Train with Uncomfortable Wooden Benches in Russia; Over-Crowded Ferries; a Plane that was held together with Duct Tape; High Speed Trains; a 3 Seater Arctic Hydro-Plane; Limousines; First Class Planes; Private Taxis; Public Taxis; a Private Jet; a Hired Car with a Private Driver; a Snowmobile; a Gondola in Venice; a Monorail; a Speed Boat; in a Hot Air Balloon; an Over-Crowded Plane with no Class Sections and random Animals on it (Not Service Animals); a Paddle Boat; a Helicopter;  a Bike; a Funicular in Ukraine; a Canoe and a Dog Sled.

I have stayed in all sorts of different places: in a Hostel that was a Former Jail in Canada; in the back of a Pick-Up Truck; at a 6 Star Resort; at a Haunted Motel; at a Soviet Khrushchevka in Ukraine;  at All-Inclusive Resorts; at a Hotel that was constantly bombed during the 30 years of The Troubles; in the Back Seat of my Car;  at a French Castle; at a Closed Rest Area with no Visitor’s Center during a snowstorm; in an Ice Fishing Hut; in a Wilderness Emergency Cabin; on the Beach; in a Tent; on the Bare Ground; on a Bench during the Russian Winter; in a Cave; on a Houseboat; on a Barn; in a Tree House and at an Irish Castle.

I have done many fun and exciting things: gone Sky-Diving; gone Bungee Jumping; gone Para-Gliding; jumped out of a Helicopter into the Mediterranean Sea; gone Skinny Dipping; went to the Blue Grotto in Malta; swam in the Blue Lagoon in Iceland; went to German, Croatian, French, Dutch, British and Austrian Christmas Markets; went Rock Climbing off a Scottish Castle on Loch Lomond; skied in the Austrian and German Alps; swam with Dolphins in the Bahamas; spent the night at Frankenstein’s Castle in Darmstadt, Germany; went to Raves; went to Euro Disney in Paris; went to Disney World in Florida; went to Lego Land;  went to the Cliffs of Mohr in Ireland; walked on an Alaskan Glacier; went to the Giant’s Causeway in Northern Ireland; went to the Munich Oktoberfest; went to the Gullfoss in Iceland (where the European and Atlantic Tectonic Plates meet); went to the Gaeltacht (Irish-Speaking Area of Ireland); sat on the Throne at the Winter Palace/The Hermitage in Saint Petersburg; saw the Honours of Scotland (the Scottish Crown Jewels); saw the Crown Jewels of England; went into the World Trade Center many times over the years when my Mom worked there; went to the Pentagon several times when my Dad worked there, went to the Rosh Hanikra Caves in Israel; saw the Canadian Maple Crown; went inside Lenin’s Mausoleum on Moscow; went to Stonehenge; went to the Masada Fortress in Israel; went to Sherwood Forrest;  went to Peterhof Castle in Saint Petersburg; flew a small plane from West Germany to England; fed Shamu at Sea World in San Antonio; reenacted in a Revolutionary War Battle at Saratoga; went to the Prime Minister’s Question Time in Canada; went to the Arenal Volcano in Costa Rica; went up Magnetic Hill in Canada; took a tour of the White House; had a Colonial-Themed Meal at Colonial Williamsburg; swam in the Dead Sea; went to the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem; visited the Oldest City in the World – Jericho and rode a Horse in the Rain Forrest in Costa Rica.

I have travelled to many places most Americans haven’t: Several Hours North of the Arctic Circle in Alaska, Russia (living there 2 times and visiting there 3 times); Montenegro; Croatia; Bosnia & Herzegovina; Prince Edward Island, Canada; Cyprus; the West Bank Palestinian Territories; Iceland; West Germany; Campobello Island, Canada; Poland; the Isle of Skye, Scotland; the United Arab Emirates; Northern Ireland; Malta; Kuwait; Greece; Israel and Ukraine.

I have been very lucky and have gotten to do so many fun and interesting things in so many fun and interesting places.

I don't take any of that lightly.

For the past 15 years I have lived off-the-beaten path on my Mountain here in northern New England where the Arctic Circle gets more Visitors every year then we do.