Start with a dream. Everything starts with a dream. Big dreams are the most fun.

– Douglas Fears

Born in Atlanta, Georgia in 1964, I’ve been traveling for five decades. While working in the computer industry for 20 years, I took frequent business trips and hosted many international guests. I collected thousands of airline miles and have explored more than 65 countries.

My wife Shelly and I then decided to do something different. We moved to Kazakhstan in 2006, where we worked in education and administration for eight years. After our work contract ended there, we moved to Turkey in 2014. We lived on the Black Sea coast in the city of Trabzon for seven years.

During my lifetime I have been fortunate enough to:

• Run a marathon on all seven continents (Antarctica was my first!)
• Visit 67 countries
• Visit all 50 states of the USA
• Cross the Atlantic Ocean six times by ship
• Round Cape Horn, Cape Agulhas and the Cape of Good Hope
• Take long-distance train trips through five continents
• Live in three countries (USA, Kazakhstan, Turkey)
• Learn to speak several new languages (Russian, Turkish, Spanish, and some Kazakh)
• Raise six foster children and become a grandfather of nine
• Renew my passport five times

This blog focuses mainly on train and ship travel. I believe that travel is more about the experience than the location, so I find that journeys by rail and by sea are special joys.

My primary purpose is to entertain and make you laugh with real stories from the road. As an eyewitness to sea changes in the travel industry and world history, my unique perspective in this blog describes how people go and where they’ve been. Of course, the people and places along the way enrich us and become woven into our mind’s memory book, especially when their stories are shared.

I am glad to have you join me in this lifelong adventure. Remember, the journey itself is the destination!