Shared Travel Memories

On January 11, 2016 By Isobar ExpeditionsIn Travel Tips11 Comments

It has been interesting reading the various travel blogs over the past several months since we started our own site. One theme that we’ve seen quite often is talking about how people should try traveling solo and what a great experience it is. First, let us say that we think everyone should travel in whatever capacity that is possible. So, by all means, travel, whether solo, in large groups, small groups, or with a companion. For us, a travel memory that isn’t shared jointly by the two of us, just isn’t the same. We love recanting those “remember when we” moments that we’ve shared throughout the years.

As we said before, we’re not trying to say that those that travel solo aren’t enjoying an incredible experience, based on the posts we’ve seen, they definitely are. And we can certainly see how having the freedom to make impulse decisions, define your own agenda, go as fast or slow as you like are all great benefits, not to mention only having to pay for one. We kind of feel that we have the best of both worlds. We’ve been together so long that we basically travel as though we have a shared thought process. So impulse decisions, agenda, speed, are all things that we agree on and neither of us ever seems to feel like we’re “not getting our way”. On the flip side, when there are travel challenges, we have each other to lean on, support each other, and usually laugh about it since there is often nothing we can do about it (sometimes the laughing comes later though 😉 ).

Travelling is such a great experience, changing the way you view your world and the people who share it with you, that we definitely encourage everyone to travel. We hope that everyone is fortunate enough to one day have a travel companion, friend, spouse, family member, that they get to share those special moments with. Every trip, no matter how monumental or seemingly inconsequential, has the potential to create one of those life altering memories. In fact, many of those memories might be more about the people who you are with than the location that you’re visiting. Having someone to recount that memory with later makes the memory that much sweeter. For now, we’ll just count our blessings and look forward to making as many new shared memories as possible.

Cathedrals and Temples

On December 18, 2015 By Isobar ExpeditionsIn England, India, Spain, Travel Tips, Uncategorized2 Comments

It isn’t surprising that the places of worship are some of the most spectacular sites to see when travelling. The Roman cathedrals, the Islamic mosques, the Buddhist and Hindu temples, just to name a few, are all inspiring works of architecture and display a treasure trove of art. We’ve enjoyed seeing many various cathedrals and temples at the places we’ve visited. Well almost.

The Cathedral of Granada – Cathedral of the Incarnation

This post is not going to be a catalog of all of the different cathedrals and temples that we’ve seen. In fact it is about the opposite. One of the things that starting to post about our travels has done is to review past photographs of the places that we’ve been to. Especially going back through the old photo albums since most of our lives were spent prior to the digital camera age. The good thing that has come from that is that we’re now scanning many of those older photographs and making them digital, which is really great. But, in reviewing those photographs where most of our travel was throughout the United States, we came to an epiphany.

Fraumunster Church in Zurich, Switzerland

We don’t take photographs of the cathedrals that are in our own country 🙁 We’ve been to pretty much every major city in the United States, whether to live or to visit, and we have virtually no pictures of any of the cathedrals that are in those great cities, and they have some great cathedrals. To be honest, we were kind of ashamed of ourselves. How could we make such a concerted effort when we’re abroad and take so little notice in our own backyard. We won’t call it a New Year’s resolution, but we will be sure that in the future, we don’t miss out on the beauty that these great cathedrals have to offer as we travel inside of the United States in the future.

Bringing Christmas Home

On December 7, 2015 By Isobar ExpeditionsIn Travel Tips2 Comments

Needless to say, we pick up souvenirs from all of the places that we visit so that when we see those objects, they remind us of the places we’ve visited. In particular, though, we try to find something Christmas related whenever we can. It is quite enjoyable to be decorating the house or trimming the tree and coming across something that we’ve picked up from one of our travels. It isn’t always possible to find something, but sometimes we will find a Christmas store or curio store that sells something Christmas related.

Little Drummer from Bethlehem Pennsylvania

We were in England about a month prior to Christmas and one of our fondest memories was going to Stratford-Upon-Avon and seeing the mayor announce the arrival of Santa Claus, who appeared on the roof. We drank mulled wine at a local pub and found a perfect little store full of Christmas decorations. While we were in London, we made our way to Harrods to view their Christmas displays and to do some Christmas shopping.

Christmas Ornament from Stratford-Upon-Avon

Christmas Ornament from Harrods in London

Another great memory was when we were in Paris and we found a little store that sold wonderful china where we found the perfect little statue of a boy and girl on a sleigh. It is the memory of the streets of Paris and the little shops that we went into that comes back to our minds as we put it out on our mantelpiece every year.

It isn’t as if the items are extravagant or expensive, but we treasure each and every one of them. Whether from Aspen, Chicago, Spain, England, France or any other place, each comes with a trove of memories. What better time of the year to pull out a piece of the past and set it out to remind us of the places that we’ve travelled to.