My husband Mark and I have been traveling together since the very beginning of our relationship way back in the 80’s. We were living in Michigan when we took our first road trip to visit my family in North Carolina. One trip led to another and here we are still exploring 30 plus years later.
I wrote this fun post about his travel spirit earlier this year This Guy Makes Travel Fun. He’s been a trooper and gone outside his comfort zone and tried a lot of new things on our trips. Last year he even took his first solo trip (Markie’s Big Adventure) to visit our son in Texas!
My posts usually talk about MY favorites, but I thought it was about time to pick Mark’s brain to find out what his favorite travel experiences have been.
FYI: This was not an easy thing to do! Getting him to share his thoughts on travel was sort of like trying to get gum out of your hair. Yikes!
Mark’s Favorite Cities that we have Visited
- Munich, Germany
- Paris, France
- Rome, Italy
- Brussels, Belgium
- Bruges, Belgium
- London, England (the whole 4 hours we had of it, lol)
- Sorrento, Italy
- Venice, Italy
- Cozumel, Mexico
- Myrtle Beach, NC
Mark’s Top 10 Things we have Seen or Done
- Rhine Cruise from Heidelberg Germany
- Boat Tour of Lake Lucerne in Switzerland
- Sunset Cruise on the River in Paris
- Tour of Notre Dame, Paris
- Drive along the Amalfi Coast
- Exploring Texas
- Day trip to the Isle of Capri, Italy
- Tour through the Vatican in Rome Italy
- Tour and dinner at Castello de Trebbio in Tuscany
- Exploring Traverse City and the surrounding areas
Mark’s Favorite Hotel
Palace Grand Hotel – Varese, Italy
The grounds were beautiful. The food was great and there were plenty of areas to relax and take everything in. This place is a well preserved piece of history, with amazing woodwork and finishes, antique furnishings, a huge winding stairway, and real keys for the room doors. It also kind of had a vibe like the hotel in the “Shining.” You felt like you were going back in time.
Mark’s Favorite Things About Traveling
- Experiencing new places
- Seeing all the sites
- Trying the local Food, Beer and Wine.
His Least Favorite Things About Traveling
Airports! Everything about them really.
- Figuring out parking
- Going through all the check in and security processes
- Waiting
- Expensive food and drinks
- Navigating through new or foreign airports and custom
The Worst Thing that Happened During out Travels
Getting stuck at DTW for 30 hours when our flight to London was delayed, delayed again then cancelled in the middle of the night. This was a flight to meet our group for a 14 day tour of Europe. We missed pretty much all of London due to the delays (except about 4 hours that we went like mad trying to see whatever we could). The airline was not very helpful in keeping us informed or helping us navigate new flights. We had been on the plane like 3 hours during the delays and everyone was starved. They said they would get us food, and they did about 4 hours later. They said they would get us hotels when they deplaned us, but later we were advised that all rooms in the area were booked up. Mark slept in airport chairs and on the floor with the Delta blanket I snagged him on the way off the plane. It was really stressful.
5 Places on Mark’s Travel Bucket List
- Australia
- Hawaii
- Baja Mexico
- The North Pole (he giggles) to see Santa Clause (Me: eyes rolling)
- The Florida Keys
We have been a lot of places over the course of 30 years. We try to have fun wherever we go, near or far. Mark just goes with the flow as long as you remember to keep him fed, find some local beer and let him grab an occasional nap.
Our favorite word is Andiamo – meaning “we go” in Italian. That pretty much sums us up in 1 word and I can’t wait for our next Adventure!
Dream, Plan, Save, Adventure!
The World According to Dev 