Travel Buddies

A week or so after DW and I started dating, in 1989, we went to the movies to see Working Girl, starring Harrison Ford, Sigourney Weaver, and Melanie Griffith. As the movie ended, Griffith's character, Tess McGill, looked out the window of her new office, and the camera showed the Manhattan skyline, I leaned over to DW and said, "Let's go to New York City."

Two weeks later, we were in the Big Apple.

Battery Park, NYC, 1989

We had never travelled together before, and yet we packed up our bags, met with my best friend and his girlfriend, and spent a long weekend away from what we found comfortable.

It's not as though either of us had never travelled before. Just the year before, I had flown to Scotland, to visit a friend who was studying at Glasgow University, and then took a train, solo, from Glasgow to Berlin, Germany, via London, the English Channel, and the Netherlands. DW had been to Europe with her sister, who lived in Paris at the time.

But travelling with a romantic partner is always a challenge. You're forced to spend 24/7 with that person, regardless of the circumstances, the weather, and how you're feeling.

My best friend and his girlfriend broke up shortly after that NYC weekend (the trip wasn't the reason, but two best friends spending this time together was a contributing factor).

DW and I had a wonderful time in New York, and our love for travel—and each other—led to many more trips: the Gaspé Peninsula, PEI, England, Wales, Paris, Nova Scotia, and more. The fact that we loved travelling together made it easy for us to make the decision to live in South Korea for two years, from 1997 to 1999.

Wales, 1991

South Korea, 1997

DW loves to do the planning. She loves creating an itinerary, listing the cities and sites that we'll see. My contribution is to provide a couple of places that I really want to see, and she'll work it into the plan.

For example, in 2016, when we made plans to visit family in Arizona, I made a list of breweries that I wanted to visit and DW worked the stops into our route. When we planned to drive from Flagstaff to the Grand Canyon, I learned that great photos could be taken in the town of Page, which boasts the Antelope Canyons and Horseshoe Bend.

Though it was a couple of hours deviation from our route and involved an overnight's stay, it was a place that I really wanted to see. Afterwards, all of us were glad that we had made the detour.

Both DW and I have had a bucket-list item for when we next found ourselves in Europe: we want to cycle some of the countryside. Knowing that I love finding places where I can focus on my photography, we chose a cycle route that took us through the Netherlands, hitting picturesque regions like Haarlem, the Hague, Kinderdijk (where the old windmills are), Dordrecht, the sea gates, and Bruges, Belgium.

Proposed bike route, courtesy Google Maps.

We're also going to cycle the Mosel River, in Germany, from Koblenz to Trier, after which we'll likely either sell or ditch the bikes.

Though our trip is more than seven months away, DW is deep in her planning. She and I have been watching YouTube and Rick Steves videos of the Netherlands, Belgium, and Germany, making a list of the places we want to visit, noting the sites that we must see in those towns and cities.

DW has laid out a roadmap and noted where we will be on which day. She has booked accommodations, surfed Dutch Web sites for used bike shops. I have also searched for accommodation in a few cities and towns, as well as scoped out attractions in our various stops. Together, we have worked out our cycle routes and booked where we'll rest our heads when we arrive at the end of each leg.

Though I took a German-language course in university, I am extremely rusty, and so DW and I have started taking online language lessons. (Das Frühstück hier ist lecker, oder?)

I plan to capture this trip, just as I had with last year's Mexico and South Korea getaways, with video, as well as still photos, and I've already begun storyboarding. I'm going to make several short videos (you're welcome), covering our two cycle legs and the major cities that we visit.

DW and I are travel pros and have been perfect travel buddies for nearly 31 years. This autumn's trip is shaping up to be our best vacation ever.