Northern Italy & Switzerland

February 2024

We have visited Italy on two prior trips, but never the northern part of the country. Milan, Venice and Murano were bucket list locations. In an effort to experience more of the Italian culture, we took day trips to several smaller towns in the region. A bonus day trip was the Bernina Express panoramic train trip through the Swiss Alps, to St. Moritz, Switzerland.

We started with a week in Milan. The city is full of history, culture, and is bustling with activity. We visited Duomo di Milano, Leonardo di Vinci's - The Last Supper - painted in the refectory of the convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie, the Navigli (canal) district, Storza Castle, and Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, the largest shopping mall in Milan. Read about our unescorted private tour of Soulmovie Studios in the top navigation link "Retire Inspired Blog".

Our first day trip was to the smaller town of Novara, just west of Milan. We loved Novara from the minute we stepped off the train. There were no crowds and the building architecture and cobblestone roads were stunning. We walked through the Basilica di San Gaudenzio and the town square of shops, restaurants, castle, theatre and museum.

The next adventure was a full day trip on the Bernina Express panoramic train through the Swiss Alps, to St. Moritz, Switzerland. This is not a trip for those prone to motion sickness or anyone with an aversion to heights, without some handy-dandy Ondansetron. What amazing views!

After Milan, we moved on to Padua, a smaller city west of Venice. The gentleman at the tram/bus ticket booth got a kick out of my attempt to pronounce the places we wanted to visit. He was good natured and ultimately, after we both got a good laugh, he offered up the appropriate tickets for public transport around town. Our day trips out of Padua included Venice, Murano, Castelfranco Veneto, and Cittadella.

Padua has a great cultural city center with high-end retail shopping (shout out to Prada for my window shopping fix). We walked across the Molino Bridge, built in 40-30 BC. Strolled through City Square and Park lined with beautiful ornate statues on both sides of a canal. Admired the Basilica of St. Anthony, shopped at Centro Giotto, visited Palazzo della Ragione - a medieval town hall / justice building, and outdoor market. There was never a lack of things to do in Padua.

Venice and Murano were bucket list visits. We appreciated Venice's winding canals, St. Mark's Square and Basilica, shops and restaurants and watching an artist blow glass in Murano. It was a day to remember thanks to the Venice Chamber of Commerce.

Castelfranco and Cittadella, two small towns northwest of Venice, were probably surprised to see tourists from Kansas roaming their streets. If the medieval walls surrounding parts of each town could talk, what a story they would likely tell. Cittadella is the only walled city left in Europe where you can walk the entire perimeter on top of the wall. These towns gave us a peek into the quiet life of little Italy.

As we traveled by train to different parts of northern Italy, we could not miss vinyard after vinyard. It is wine country. Some were backyard growing operations, others larger farms. All were incredibly beautiful. Northern Italy did not disappoint. Make it your bucketlist destination if you can.

Duomo di Milano cathedral - interior wall of stained glass panels (top)

Leonardo di Vinci's The Last Supper, painted and now protected from further deterioration in climate controlled refectory of the convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie, Milan. The dark and light shades in the robes are intentional to differentiate original from restorative work (second from top)

Navigli (canal) district in what is now modern-day Milan (middle)

Tirano, Italy - small town on northern border where we boarded the Bernina Express. Note the spectacular design of the cobblestone road (second from bottom)

From the Bernina Express panoramic train climbing up into the Swiss Alps. I took this picture when the train made a brief stop (bottom)

Molino Bridge in Padua, Italy, constructed in 40-30 BC. The bridge has been restored several times, always with original materials. (top)

City Square and Park, Padua, Italy (second from top)

Castelfranco, Italy medieval wall surrounding the town square, complete with moat (third from top)

Canals winding through Venice (second from bottom)

Walking on top of the walled city of Cittadella. Originally a military outpost for Padua, the perimeter distance is just shy of one mile and the view of the city within and the town outside the wall is awesome. (bottom)

Panama City, Panama / Cabo San Lucas

January 2023

One of the greatest engineering feats of the modern world is the Panama Canal. To appease our fascination with the mechanics of this waterway, the Panama Canal was one of our bucket list destinations we checked off in January. We started off apprehensive when we arrived at our local airport and presented passports to the United Airlines gate agent. The United representative questioned us at length on why we were traveling to Panama on our own and not part of a tour group or cruise. He left us with the distinct impression Panama was unsafe, warned us to never take a taxi or Uber, and to be extremely vigilant. Arriving at baggage claim in Panama City, we encountered four American gentlemen. They explained to us they came down every year to fish and it was one of the safest places they ever visited at half the cost. This immediately calmed us down and we proceeded to have a wonderful week. We explored this multi-faceted, multi-cultured, modern city over the next five days. There were many different neighborhoods, each one had its own unique culture.

The people of Panama were some of the friendliest people we have ever encountered throughout our travels. The traffic was a bit congested and made us nervous so, ignoring the warnings of the gate agent back home, we opted to use Uber to get around. Not once did we feel threatened or unsafe.

Then we were off to Cabo San Lucas. After our last trip to Cabo, we knew we would return eventually. This time, we stayed on the north side of the marina, and it felt like we were in the midst of all the activities. The marina was bustling, due largely to cruise ships anchored in the harbor. The highlight of this trip for us was the ATV Razor tour through the dunes. We were given five minutes of instructions, safety equipment, bandanas and we were off. ATVs were well maintained and had plenty of horsepower. After going through the first water bog, we were completely soaked and covered in mud; but the smiles never stopped. Magnificent views and a tremendous amount of fun.

Our fishing expedition on the SS Minnow required a two-hour tow back to the marina due to a broken propeller and left us a little green. The bright side was the close encounter with whales, dolphins, and sea lions. In all, we had a wonderful time and look forward to our next adventure!

JW Marriott is the unique arc shaped tower and was our directional point of reference when we got turned around (top)

No earthly idea what this flower is called. Found it on Summit Rain Forest Golf Course and thought it was pretty. I do not have a knack for capturing beautiful pictures of flowers. I give myself kudos for effort. (second from top)

Summit Rain Forect Golf Course (second from bottom)

Casco Viejo, old town Panama City (bottom)

Miraflores sported two separate locks descending almost 55 feet (top)

Our big ship buddy, a Hyundai 700 foot long car carrier, hosted our trip through all locks (second from top)

Big ship enters lock last. Our small buddy, the catamaran, would tie up next to our boat in each lock. As many as five small boats can tie next to each other and enter the locks with a larger ship (third from top)

In Cabo San Lucas our fishing charter lost its propeller. We were thankful for the tow back to the marina (second from bottom)

The silver lining to our boat mechanical issues - the whales were up close and waiving at us (bottom)

Italy and the Mediterranean

March/April 2022

Touring the Mediterranean was another bucket list trip for my family. We had the opportunity to take a 16-day land and cruise to Italy, Malta, Turkey and Greece. It was a trip to remember! We began with three days in Rome where we saw a number of historical sites, beautiful churches, and quaint Italian neighborhoods. There were fabulous restaurants and shops. The Italians were friendly and helpful (we have a tendency to get lost; even with maps in hand.) In all fairness, the streets of Rome run in curvy directions. We were not in Kansas anymore, where you travel east, west, north or south pretty much everywhere.

Days 3-12 were aboard the Norwegian Jade cruise ship. This is definitely the way to travel through the Mediterranean. We were able to unpack our things in our cabin and store our luggage. If there is one thing we wanted to avoid it was "bag drag." The cruise allowed us to see three countries and eight cities in the span of a nine day cruise. Ports of call included Palermo Sicily Italy, Valetta Malta, Santorini Island and Rhodes Greece, Kusadasi and Istanbul Turkey, Mykonos, and Athens Greece.

We are the type of travelers that like to go and do things on our own, so we opted out of shore excursions, except in Istanbul. We love experiencing the cultures and eating local cuisine in the places we visit. We shy away from eating at restaurants we have access to at home. That said, it was ironic my ATV ran out of fuel in front of a McDonald's in Santorini. A quick call to the rental shop, however, and I had a new quad in short order.

Wrapping up our trip in Athens and standing among the structures in the Acropolis was something I will never forget. I encourage anyone to visit the Mediterranean if given the opportunity. We saw and did many incredible things during our trip. For more about our experience, check out the "Retire Inspired Blog" in the navigation links at the top of this page.

Tiber River runs through Rome. This is the bridge near Castel Sant’ Angelo (top)

Wandering the streets of Palermo Sicily (second from top)

Blue Grotto in Valetta, Malta (second from bottom)

Santorini Island, Greece (bottom)

Rhodes Castle sits in the walled city along the waterfront (top)

Kusadasi, Turkey (second from top)

Grand Bazaar in Istanbul, Turkey (third from top)

Hilltop windmills in Mykonos, Greece (second from bottom)

View of Athens from the Acropolis (bottom)

Akumal, Mexico

January 2022

We enjoy Cancun and Riviera Maya so much, we convinced our friends, Jim and Aileen, to join us for a week at the all-inclusive Secrets resort in Akumal, Mexico. Akumal is a bit of a drive south of Cancun, but it was nice to be out of the congested city. Secrets is a beautiful resort surrounded by palm trees and stunning vegatation.

Much of our time was spent lounging poolside and enjoying nightly musical entertainment the resort provided for guests. We left the resort several times to visit Akumal beach, swim with sea turtles, and shop in Tulum. When the guys headed to the local golf course, we girls ventured to the Akumal spa for some much needed pampering.

I don't know what Aileen and I were thinking, but we opted to join yoga on the beach every morning. I am convinced the body is not designed to be contorted into the different yoga poses, yet somehow I survived. It was a memorable week with great friends.

From Left - Jim, Aileen, Julie, and Mark (top)

Akumal Beach (bottom)

Town of Akumal (top)

PGA Riviera Maya (bottom)

Alaska, USA

June 2021

Alaska was a bucket list trip for Mark and I. Neither of us had ever been to Alaska. We had originally booked an inlet cruise from Sitka to Juneau, but due to COVID restrictions, we ended up canceling the cruise, flying into Anchorage and doing a land based trip.

We enjoy exploring destinations on our own, so we rented a home and car in Anchorage. We took a 2-day trip north to Talkeetna and Healy, AK. Talkeetna, about a two hour drive from Anchorage, is a charming small town with an escentric vibe. Here we hopped an air taxi and took the Grand Denali Flight with Glacier Landing. This was one of the highlights of our trip and well worth the extra money to do. What a way to see Denali! Farther north, near Healy, we drove into and hiked parts of the park.

Another day trip was to Whittier, AK. Whittier sits at the head of Passage Canal and is a short drive southeast of Anchorage. There is a one way tunnel in and out of the town that is shared by trains and automobiles so you have to wait in line to get there. It is worth the wait!

We didn't get to go on our inlet cruise as originally planned, but a day trip to Seward, AK gave us the opportunity to see some of Kenai Fjords National Park. Here we took a day cruise through fjords along the southern coastline. We saw a gray humpback whale, orcas, sea lions, otters, black and white porpoises, and mountain goats. The boat also took us to the mouth of a glacier where we watched pieces of the glacier fall into the water. It is cool to hear the cracking of the ice blocks before they fall. Sounds like rifle shots going off.

Pictures of Alaska do not do it justice. The scenery is absolutely breathtaking. Wildlife is incredible. If you are making your travel bucket list, add Alaska. You will not be disappointed.

Wild life returning from Seward, Alaska (top)

Glacier flowing through Denali National Park (middle)

Of all places we went where we could have seen bears, we saw this black bear as we were leaving Moose Run Golf Course in Anchorage (bottom)

Far North Bicentennial Park - Anchorage, AK. This is a great park for hiking. There are "Danger" signs throughout the park warning of grizzly bears, so carry bear spray. (top)

Whittier, Alaska marina (middle)

Flying over Denali National Park (bottom)

Cabo San Lucas, Mexico

October 2020

Our family absolutely loves visiting Mexico. In the past we've tended to gravitate toward the Cancun/Rivera Maya area; however, this last trip we chose the Pacific side.

You will never lack for things to do in Cabo. We stayed near the marina and the location was phenominal. People are friendly. There is always something to do. Whether you enjoy lounging poolside, being a beach bum, golfing, fishing, shopping, or eating, you'll enjoy Cabo.

The only downside of the marina are the street vendors that quite frequently approach you to buy their goods and services. While some people may get annoyed with it, we enjoyed interacting with the vendors. A bonus to this trip, son hooked and dad reeled in a 93" striped marlin! A catch that took over an hour, and help from our boat captain and first mate, to reel in! Cabo will see us return.

Cabo sign at the marina (top)

Rock formations from the beach near our resort (bottom)

Rock formations near marina taken from boat while fishing (top)

Diamonte Golf Club (bottom)

Melbourne, Australia

December 2019

Before Covid-19 shut down international travel, my family had the opportunity to visit Australia. Over a two week period, we visited Melbourne, drove a bit of the southern coastline, saw the Twelve Apostles, attended the PGA Presidents Cup (where the U.S. took the cup with a great come-from-behind win), and went to Hamilton Island to snorkle the Great Barrier Reef.

We loved the hustle and bustle of downtown Melbourne. Australia is beautiful! We only saw a small portion of the country and plan to return. If you ever get the chance and don't mind the long plane trip, Australia is a must-see bucket list trip!

Melbourne skyline (top)

Southern Australian coastline between Melbourne and Adaleide; the Twelve Apostles (bottom)

Kangaroos on the golf course and Koala bears in the state park!