The Traveling Widower

Tag: travel-tips

  • The Arachnid Hotel and New Travel Rules

    The Arachnid Hotel and New Travel Rules

    Giant House Spider
    Giant House Spider…really, I’m not making that up

    I’m slowly learning a few rules about living with stress, or more like how to reduce stress when traveling. The last few weeks have really hit me hard physically – something about lack of sleep, emotional breakdowns and pushing myself too hard are taking a toll. I look like crap with big bags and dark circles under my eyes.  So I need to take it easy on this trip and maybe just relax, have some fun, and not worry about getting perfect pictures.

    But last night was not a good start. I decided to stay overnight in Seattle, so I’d just have the flight to Sitka in the morning. I’m glad I did that. I had forgotten about Labor Day weekend – not a good time to be traveling. At any rate, I booked a night at the airport Hilton Hotel – a nice place. Unfortunately, they gave me the Arachnid Suite, which comes with one of those big beauties (Giant House Spider) free of charge. I did not realize that until I came back from a pleasant dinner, and found this waiting patiently for me on the bed. I chased it off, but it managed to hide somewhere else in the room. Rather than risk spending a night with at least one 2” spider (it might have had friends), I called the front desk and they quickly moved me into an enormous suite – which was thankfully free of spiders. 

    So along with a new rule of never booking the Arachnid Suite in a hotel again, my other new rule is to do anything you can to avoid stress at the airport. Joining Clear was number one – it really made a difference traveling on a major holiday, especially in Seattle. What a zoo. The second rule is to pay for the airline lounge if you don’t get a complimentary pass. I’m writting this, sitting in a wonderful, relaxing Alaska Airline lounge, with a nice latte and a blueberry scone, watching the planes take off. The gates are all packed, with people sitting on the floor. Been there done that in my consulting days. It’s all about me now. 

    Time for another latte, and then head to the gate.

  • Trip Planning for 2026



    After the last burst of caves and tunnels, I pretty much ran out of ideas and energy for any more of these mini-trips. It’s not that there aren’t any places of interest to visit in the area (well, maybe there aren’t….this is the Sacramento Valley), I’m just kind of burned out on long drives by myself. It was nice having friends along on two of the trips but most of the remaining places on my list require an overnight or two.

    And there is one other problem – August 17th is fast approaching and that would have been our 50th anniversary. Last year I was still in shock, and I do not recall what I did on what would have been our 49th anniversary.  Jan so wanted to make it to our 50th, and we had planned a trip starting in Portugal, traveling to Spain, and then across to Morocco – this anniversary is hitting me harder than I was expecting. My solution will be the same as what I did for the one year anniversary of her passing – head to the coast, and do some of the fun things we did together. Definitely a whale tour, and possibly kayaking in the Elkhorn Slough with the sea otters. That will keep me from going down the rabbit hole of grief. A martini or two on that evening will help.  

    Kayaking in Elkhorn Slough

    What I have been doing the past few weeks is scheduling trips for 2026, and considering some adventures for 2027. My experience with having a potential diagnosis of a life threatening cancer, which fortunately was a lab mistake, made me reconsider my priorities for the next few years. Once you hit your 70’s, you have to start considering that mortality thing. And also realize that your physical condition can change very fast. I’m doing OK for an old fart, still have all my original body parts and a mostly functional brain. But all that can change in a flash. So I’m planning to schedule the more adventurous trips on my bucket list in the next 2 or 3 years – that would include an African safari, and anything that requires more serious hiking, kayaking and snorkeling. If I remain healthy as I get further along in years, that’s great. If not, I can switch to more cruise oriented trips, and have lots of good memories without the could-woulda-shoudas about the trips I never was able to do.  

    My itinerary, so far, through 2026 is:

    • Alaska Inner Passages (September 25)
    • Colorado – Manitou Incline (September/October 25)
    • Antarctica (November 25)
    • Glamping with Gray Whales in Baja (February 26)
    • National Geographic Iceland “Expedition” (July 26)
    • Photographing Grizzly Bears/Kodiak Island (August 26)
    • National Geographic Patagonia “Expedition” (November 26)

    I’m also considering an adventurous photography trip to Costa Rica for 2026/2027 – plenty of room on the calendar to fit that in. 

    I’ll be filling the in-between months with more domestic trips such as another attempt at “The Wave” and other hikes in Utah/Arizona, snorkeling/kayaking trips to Florida – I’ve got my stack of catalogs and a long bucket list of domestic things to see, that will keep me busy traveling, expanding my photo libraries, and writing new blog posts for a while.

    I’m just not ready for those Viking river cruises yet.