My Travel Companions

Travel is always much more fun with companions!  

This page will highlight some of the people I have traveled with, as well as those I travel with in the future.   I will share where we have traveled together, and why I like traveling with this person.  I will also share a little about them, because they too, are Gypsies With Day Jobs.

Travis is my youngest sons, and one of my main travel companions.  Travis and I have made Extravagant Excursions together to Hawaii, Ireland, Amsterdam, and Germany, as well as Everyday Escapes to such places as Graceland.  Travis and I are blessed to have some similar interests, which include history, archeology, and architecture, so we are compatible travel companions.  Our next Excursion is a road trip out of Las Vegas, going through Death Valley and Sequoia and Kings National Parks.

Travis does not fit the complete profile of the normal Gypsy With a Day Job profile, as his work is more flexible than most, and at times sporadic.  This often puts him a position of being called upon often by friends and family when assistance is needed as well.  So, although not exactly a 40+ hour person, he still has work, home and family responsibilities, as well as bills to pay.  I will refer to him often in my posts.

One really cool thing about Travis is that he insists on driving when we are in foreign countries.  Apparently, my driving scares him a little, and I am okay with that.  If that means that he maneuvers through pedestrian/bicycle packed one-way streets of Dublin, or drives in the left lane on the narrow, winding roads of rural Ireland, or brakes from 150kph to 60kph for sudden traffic on the Autobahn, well then, he can continue to be scared of my driving!

VerNessa Hunter is one of my very best friends, and has been for the past 15 years.  Over the years, she and I have taken many Weekend Escapes together, including our most recent, to Metropolis, Illinois, that will be in future posts.  We actually have two Extravagant Excursions planned.  In September we are flying to San Juan for a 7 day cruise, and then in May, she will be with Travis and I on the road trip out of Vegas.  VerNessa has a thing about trees, which was the start of the Metropolis trip, and of course, the coming visit to Sequoia and Kings National Parks.

VerNessa works at the United States Postal Service, wehre she is a window clerk who greets customers with a smile all day long.  She is an active member of her church, and not only attends services on Sunday and study on Wednesday, she also is a member of the women’s group which organizes theater, luncheons and fashion shows.  She is also a veteran of the United States Army, and now an active member of the local American Legion post.  You will find her in many subsequent posts.

VerNessa is NOT afraid of my driving.  In fact, she prefers if I drive when we are on the road.

Cash and Jaxon are two of my awesome DayTrip buddies, and grandsons, who obviously do not fit the Gypsy With a Day Job profile, unless you count home-school as a day job.  The both love video games, as all children do, and both play Little League baseball, and JFL football.

Dad and mom, Doug and Brittany, do fit the Gypsy With a Day Job profile.  Both would love to travel more, but work and budget reponsibilities make it a challenge at times.  Doug, one of my oldest sons, works day shift at a rigging company, making steel parts for bridges, levees, and other similar things.  Brittany, my daughter-in-law, works nights as a cook, so she can be home with the boys during the day.

Doug and Brittany have learned the art of the DayTrip, just as I did when Doug was a child.  The five of us don’t get to travel together a lot, like we wish we could, because all of us adults have different, busy work schedules.  But we have gotten a few daytrips in, most recently to the Olde English Faire, near Peoria, Illinois, and we hope to take a weekend away in October if all the schedules work out.

Kathrin and Monty are not exactly my travel companions.  They were more like travel hosts, and travel guides.  It was because of them that we have been able to see so much of Germany, and make our trips at such a reasonable prices.  They have arranged lodging in several places, and escorted us to some of the best places in North Rhine-Westphalia.  We can’t wait to visit them again, or for them to visit us!