No one can believe that my partner Lee is still traveling at 97. Everyone is surprised that both of us can still travel—and I'm 77. Partly, when you're retired, you are looking for things to do, and for us that's traveling. In a way, we're selfish in that manner, it’s all for ourselves to a degree. But by traveling, you get a much better perspective of the things you read in the newspaper and see on the news. It’s not that you become an expert, but you can relate so much better. Travel has expanded my horizons and made me want to do more.
The first two big trips I ever took happened while I was living in New York after college. One was to Puerto Rico and the following year I went to Acapulco, Mexico. I was 24 or 25, and I went all by myself, which is why they’re so memorable. I made my own plane and hotel reservations. I had to read travel books. (It was the 1960s, so there wasn't much to go on other than whatever was printed.)
I had gone to work with the Simplicity Pattern Company during my 20s. They hired six girls and we did nothing but travel the U.S. doing fashion shows and sewing clinics. It was so much fun, but we just didn't think about how difficult it was compared to today. We didn't have credit cards—there was no such thing as a girl having a credit card. At the end of the month, we would take our paycheck into the hotel that we were staying in and it would give us the cash. That time prompted my travel bug; now, I've been to practically every state in the union.
Then I started to cruise. My first cruise was with a girlfriend and I fell in love—we went through the Panama Canal from Los Angeles to Miami. From that moment, all I could think was “Oh my god, I want to go work on the ship.” So in 1992, after a couple years working as a travel agent, I went to Florida to get a new job. On the second day there, Royal Viking Line hired me as a cruise consultant. I was walking on a cloud. Needless to say, part of my reason for wanting to go on the ship was to see the world, so I got off at every port. I just made time and lost sleep to do it. I was full time on the ship for five years over a 10 year period. I’ve been to 167 countries and I have an owl figurine from almost every place I’ve ever visited. After working as a world cruise hostess for Crystal in 2003, I retired at age 61.
I’ve always been sort of adventurous—and that hasn't changed. If anything, travel makes your visions a little wider and makes you want to go more, see more. The only new approach in this decade is slowing down. Soon after I met Lee, I put together a European tour: We spent some time in the south of France, Paris, Rome, and Capri. We can't do all that driving and traipsing around like we used to do, and cruising takes us to so many places—all without ever having to unpack a bag. As we’ve gotten older, it’s become the best way for us to travel.
The cruises have also gotten longer—rather than just 15 or 16 days, we now won’t go unless it’s 30 days. We go on two cruises a year, sometimes three. The interesting part now is that there isn't anywhere we haven’t been. For most people, it’s “I would love to see Antarctica before I die,” but that's not the case for us. We would love to go back to Capri—that’s our number one favorite place in the world—but I don't know if we’ll get back or not. Partly, because we can no longer do all the wandering paths—everything is walking, and walking with Lee's eyesight is not real easy anymore. There are no cars, just the beauty of the villas, the flowers, the food. It's about being immersed in the ambience of Italy.
Traveling isn’t quite as easy as it used to be, the mere fact of getting to the airport and moving around and getting through traffic is harder. We’re still in good health, so that certainly helps. But we plan very, very far ahead: we have all of 2020 booked, and we have one cruise already booked for 2021. As Lee says, just keep moving, eat less, and breathe deep. Words to live by for sure. For me, hold on to your cell phone. Don’t lose your phone or you’re in deep shit.
As told to Madison Flager.