"An Evening at the Rose and Crown":

Its over 20 years ago now and the memory comes back from time to time, to remind me of the wonder of travel and the people you meet.


 It was a cool Welsh evening that Sunday in Tintern as we headed to a pub for a drink and a meal.  Our first problem, we discovered, was that the pub’s proprietor had decided not to provide food that evening.

Sitting in a cozy environment in front of a warm fire, hungry and having no idea of where to go, we discovered our second problem.  Someone had blocked our car and we couldn't get out.

Seeing our dilema and also needing a place to eat, a couple from Leicestershire invited us to join them as their car wasn't blocked.  Campers, their very small 2-door hatchback was completely full of camping equipment with barely enough room for the two of them.

Solutions can be found if you only look for them.  The wife crawled through the front, over the seat, into the hatchback, and lay on top of their camping gear, I got into the passenger's seat, my wife sat on my lap and the 4 of us headed out into the Welsh countryside making what I would think was quite a sight.

Finding a little pub, we had a good meal, fun conversation, and the couple bought us each a beer before  finally giving us a ride back to our car.  A generous couple with an adventurous spirit made it a memorable night for us.  - Thanks Brits!!!


"Glen Fishback":

Many years ago on a bitterly cold winter day while doing some consulting in Minneapolis, it was lunch time, I was unfamiliar with my surroundings, and didn't know where to go for a meal.  Most of the people had "brown bagged" and were simply going to eat lunch at their desk.

"I'll take you to lunch", said a man across the room sensing that I needed some help.  And so Glen Fishback and I started a journey that took us through the building, down an elevator into an underground parking garage, and through a series of interconnecting facilities so we didn't have to go outside.

Eventually we went up in another elevator, through a building and finally to a small restaurant where someone called out - "Hi Glen"!  Evidently known to these people, perhaps he was a "regular".  We had a nice lunch and then headed back, reversing our journey until we were in the original building where we started. I don't believe I could have found my way back without Glen's help.

When you travel, especially when you travel alone, you appreciate those who take time to help you and make you feel more comfortable in unfamiliar surroundings.

And so it was with me that day - a stranger went out of his way to help.

And now as Paul Harvey would say, here is the "rest of the story" - Glen Fishback was blind.

"Hitchiking from Scotland to Australia"

OK - Water makes this more difficult. 

This story starts in a lava tube on the big island of Hawaii where we met a couple of newlyweds, the woman from Scotland and the man from Australia.  They had just gotten married in Scotland and were traveling from Scotland to Australia via the U.S. and other places on their way to Australia without renting a car.

They had flown to the east coast of the U.S.and hitchhiked to California before flying to Hawaii where we me them.  Their accents caused us to strike up a converstation in the first place where we learned their story.  While we would never pick up hitchhikers, later that day who did we see walking along the side of the road with their thumbs out? - Yes, that young couple.  We picked them up and gave them a ride to the cabin they had rented and learned even more of their story.  Looking back at that time, I wish we had taken them out for supper and learned even more.  What would have been next? - Tahiti? - Bali?

The world is full of wonderful, unique stories, that seem to appear out of nowhere, and you need to let yourself become imersed in them as they appear, as they dissapear just as quickly.  

And if you like my story, think of the young couple, who by now can already tell their story to their children.

SIMPLE - Unexpected things.  On the way from Copenhagen to Chicago, we had a short layover at Heathrow.  Looking up, who do I see but my dentist from Chicago.

Verden er liten (Norwegian for its a small small world).

YOU DON'T KNOW, DO YOU? - Another airport - another encounter.  I run into a colleague I hadn't seen for years.  Each of us heading to a different destination, we stop and talk while we wait for our planes. During the conversation, he takes out one of those pill reminder boxes with all the little compartments and proceeds to take a HANDFUL OF PILLS.  I must have been staring, surprised by the quantity he was taking, He notices.  "You don't know do you"?   I learn that he takes 34 PILLS EACH DAY as he tells me he had a heart transplant and all the reasons for all of the pills.  And yet there he was, still alive, still working, and looking forward to each day.

The problems I have in my life - not so big.

"I was there the day the bomb fell".

The twin towers in New York have fallen. Over 2,600 people in the towers are dead.  Does your life stop?  In January, we decide rather than stay home, we will fly to Auckland and then travel for two weeks at sea.  On the ship I strike up a conversation with an older Japanese man.  We talk.  He speaks very good English.  We talk of many things - modest beginnings - our families -  growing up.  Little stories.  Big stories.  We talk about 9-11 and the tragedy of that day.  I am focused on how this has impacted me and other Americans.  He tells me he was a boy near Hiroshima the day the bomb fell   -   I am at a loss for words. 

And yet even this may be considered serendipity as the fortunate discovery was a man with a positive outlook on life who at our meeting agreed that life was good and that we were lucky to have met each other and that neither of us had ever thought that one day we would be lucky enough to be sailing on a calm Tasman Sea between New Zealand and Australia to discover new adventures neither of us had ever dreamed of.