Travel Buddies for Twenty Years!
January 2005: There we were, well out of our comfort zone, under a tarp shelter on the sand beside the winter-chilly waters of Baja, California. Me, my brand-new friend, Margaret, and a guy named Tom, who happened to share my exact birthday(!). He and I, apparently, had nothing else in common; he was the vinegar to my oil. And there was poor Margaret in the middle.
At a 16,000+ pass in Bhutan (2005)
Nearby were the tarp shelters of the other “students” on this NOLS alumnae sea kayaking course, settling in for our first night. As we rummaged through the food bag, I was taken back to the “NOLS way” of having only a bag of ingredients; no prepackaged, add-a-cup-of-boiling-water meals for us! I suggested we caramelize some onions on the camp stove to add to our beach dinner, and I remember Margaret being amused at the conjunction of such gourmet preparation while roughing it.
Upon finishing the Great Walk of Africa (2014)
It was our “shake-down” trip, the one to see how we’d get along while traveling, and aside from (me) bumping heads with Tom all week, it went well. Even during the journey to Baja, I had greatly enjoyed the new sensation of having someone to watch my heavy bag while I wandered a bit in the San Diego airport. And I could return the favor. It had been a few years since I’d had a travel buddy, and I immediately thought, this is great!
Above “Margarita Canyon” in Patagonia (2010)
Tent Living! Grand Canyon (2014)
Suddenly, it has been twenty years since our first adventure. My Travel Buddy and I have done some pretty cool stuff: hiking 90 miles over two 14,000+ passes in Bhutan (2005). Hiking 90 miles in Patagonia (2010). The Great Walk of Africa: another 100 miles, walking across the Kenyan backcountry (2014). Throwing snowballs at each other in Norway in June (2022). A three-week odyssey to the Southern Ocean, including the Falklands, South Georgia, and the tip of Antarctica via the Weddell Sea (2019). Seeing Bengal tigers in India, including trekking 32 miles through their terrain (2024).
Throwing snowballs in Norway (2022)
Cross-country skiing on the fast ice of Antarctica! (2019)
At some point, we added river rafting: the mighty Colorado through Grand Canyon (2014) and the Alsek River in southeastern Alaska (2017). We visited gray whales on another trip to Baja (2014), and trekked over the 15,190-foot Salkantay Pass down to the train into Aguas Calientes, before taking the bus up to Machu Picchu (2015). It hasn’t all been so exotic. There were the relatively tame 84 miles along the Cotswold Way in England (2019) with friends Bob and Kathy, and some domestic journeys in Colorado and New England.
The tiger in the flesh and in the cell phone camera, too! India (2024)
Over time (and–can’t lie–with some wistfulness on my part), our trip decisions have begun to hinge on slightly less rugged adventures than sleeping in tents for weeks. Maybe it isn’t all bad to have a hot shower and a glass of wine at the end of the day. But we still head out the door as often as possible, heartily grateful for the good health and means to go. Coming up: a domestic trip to the Asheville area and, next winter, Morocco (including desert camping for a couple of nights with camels!).
We sponsored a “Travel Buddies” bench in Ada, Michigan in 2021 to celebrate...us!
My Travel Buddy is a kind, nice, strong and fit woman. She is intrepid, and willing to inch past the boundaries of her comfort zone. We get along well. I am the Odd Couple Oscar to her Felix, true, but it works out. I take the towels on the left (since I’m left handed), and hers are on the right. We “rummage” equally enthusiastically through our luggage as we settle into a new place, but we manage not to get in each other’s way. We enjoy ourselves, and we make a good team. So, my Travel Buddy, here’s to it all, and to what is yet to come!
