Oh, the Wanderlust!

Pore over the intriguing Road Scholar catalogs that come in the mail. Talk with friends to find a place and a time for our next exciting adventure … Denmark, Sweden, Norway, New Zealand, Australia, South Africa for a safari, Oberammergau for the Passion Play, Costa Rica … YES! Update my passport, pack my bags, catch a plane, meet interesting people I’d never known before, see ancient historical sites I’d never seen before, taste unusual foods I’d never tasted before, explore different cultures I’d never experienced before. What wonderful memories – 57 exciting adventures with Road Scholar over 28 years.

Winter 2020 – register to go on a Road Scholar trip to Portugal and then stay over for a few extra days to visit my son who was living temporarily in Portugal. OH NO … COVID 19 ?? What do you mean the Portugal trip is cancelled? What about my wanderlust ? What do you mean, wash my hands, wear a mask, socially distance, avoid crowds? Stay at home here at Sunnyside? WHAT ABOUT MY WANDERLUST ??

Well, here’s “what about my wanderlust” – Road Scholar began developing special online trips to many of the places still on my bucket list, starting with Portugal! So I registered to “visit” Portugal for three hours a day for five days over Zoom from the comfort of my living room. And what a wonderful experience!! Over the five days we visited cathedrals, farms, fisheries, vineyards, had a special concert just for us {with a private interview with the players afterwards), visited a fish market to pick out the “perfect” herring for a family backyard herring barbeque, talked with the family about their lives as they barbecued and ate the fish, talked with students at a local university, and prepared a special drink made with Portuguese wine for the last day’s farewell. (Hint: Martin’s carries Portuguese wine.)

Thus bitten by the “Road Scholar Zoom bug”, I’ve since “traveled” with a Sunnyside friend or two over the last two years to many places my age and mobility now discourage — Greece, Antarctica, the Arctic, Peru and Machu Picchu, Denmark, and Lewis and Clark’s Expedition across the Northwest. I’ve also taken a couple of photography courses and learned a lot. My favorite experience? Traveling on a Russian ice-breaker cutting through 30’ of ice to reach the North Pole!

Unsure about dedicating two or three hours a day for three to five days to travel the world? Road Scholar also has a wide variety of fascinating one-day programs and one-hour lectures over Zoom. Try a lecture about the Golden Gate Bridge, or the Transcontinental Railroad, or Route 66, or the Rockefeller Center. Check all of these opportunities, and many more, on the Road Scholar website: www.roadscholar.org. You won’t be disappointed!