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Today, October 31, 2017, on our five year anniversary of traveling the world, taken on the veranda at the villa in Atenas Costa Rica. |
It felt great to be back in Atenas to the lovely villa, especially today as we celebrate our five year anniversary of traveling the world. With a blissfully sunny day upon us and most assuredly pool time after we’re done posting, it will be yet another day to celebrate life.
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When we arrived at The Sands at Nomad Resort in October 2013 to celebrate our one year anniversary of traveling the world. Here’s the link. We didn’t take a photo of us on our two year anniversary. We’ll do better going forward. But, here’s the link for the day of our second anniversary. |
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We celebrated our three year anniversary in Fiji at Namale Resort & Spa with a tour and lunch at the world-renowned resort. See this link for details. |
For these reasons and more, long ago, we decided to enhance our experiences by staying for longer periods in most countries when our schedule allows it. Had we been the types of travelers to constantly be on the move, we’d never have lasted five years.
So, today on our five year anniversary of traveling the world we celebrate our early decisions along with the criteria we established (Please click here for our criteria, Part 1 and Part 2 here) well before we had the experience to know what we were doing.
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This photo was actually taken on October 31, 2016, when it was October 30th in the US when we were about to board Royal Caribbean Radiance of the Sea for the back-to-back 33-night cruise. See this link for details. |
These choices have kept us closer to that which we love…the gifts bestowed upon us humans by our creator, not as much as those created by humans. No doubt, we applaud the skill and expertise of our forebearers in creating the magnificent structures, art, and historical treasures.
In 28 days we’ll do a full transit of the Panama Canal, an amazing feat of human labor and ingenuity. How can we not appreciate this, even though it’s our second transit in these past five years when on our first cruise in January 2013? We’re certain we’ll be as in awe this second time as we were the first, now that the new larger canal has been completed.
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As we made our way through the long walk to Petra to finally see the Treasury, which was a life-changing experience. |
The heart-pounding thrill of witnessing a rhino in the wild with oxpeckers on his head pecking at insects or as of late, a single bird in flight alighting in a nearby tree to sing a song like none other we’ve heard in the past, is magical to us.
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Oxpeckers on the head of a rhino in the Masai Mara Kenya. This shot made us squeal with delight. |
We’ve had our ups and downs; illness, injury, visa issues, booking errors, power outages and dangerous drives on scary roads. We’ve lived close to terroristic attacks, experienced earthquakes, hurricanes and storms like none other in our past lives.
Through it all, we continued to strive to maintain an upbeat attitude while growing our abilities to adapt and conform to a life on the move, living in countries with beliefs and morays so different from our own, making every effort to blend in and never appear to be the “ugly American.”
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How did we get so close, so lucky to get this shot? We ended up calling it “safari luck” when we saw the Big Five in the first 10 hours on safari. We both felt as if we were dreaming! |
We continue to be grateful and humbled by the world around us; by the opportunity presented to us as a result of years of hard work in order to make this possible; for experiencing this adventure together; and ultimately, sharing it with all of YOU.
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View of the Sydney Opera House as the ship sailed away. For more details, please click here. |