My Retirement Travel Trifecta is a project I launched after retiring from 27 years teaching journalism at Indiana University in 2022 that has taken me and my Nikon from the Austrian Alps to the Adriatic Sea to the Colombian Amazon to, in 2026, the Scandinavian Arctic.
The first leg reunited me with some friends I knew while traveling through Colombia in the 1970s, who now live in Austria and Spain. In October 2023 I spent three weeks split between the two countries with them, photographically exploring Austria, Italy, Slovenia, and Spain.
Among the destinations: the Austrian Alps; the Italian Alps and Adriatic coast from Trieste to Venice; Slovenia’s Soca River Valley; and the Spanish Mediterranean coast from Barcelona to Alicante.
The second leg realized a 46-year dream of photographing the Colombian Amazon that I had harbored from my Colombian travels. In June 2024, my family and I flew to Leticia, Colombia, where we spent a week exploring the Upper Amazon around the tri-border area where Brazil, Peru, and Colombia meet on the world’s most magnificent river.
We spent a week at the Casa Gregorio Ecolodge in the Ticuna Indian village San Martín de Amacayucú. While there we explored Tabatinga, Brazil; Santa Rosa, Peru; and the Colombian destinations Leticia, Puerto Nariño, Lake Tarapoto, Mocagua, and the Maikuchiga Monkey Sanctuary.
The final leg of the trifecta is planned for next spring, when my family and I will travel to Lapland and the Scandinavian Arctic when my granddaughter graduates from college.
The plan is to fly to Stockholm, drive through boreal forest along the west coast of the Gulf of Bothnia to Rovanieme, Finland, the capital of Lapland, with side journeys to natural areas and the Norwegian Sea.
Lapland has more reindeer than human beings.
Photo Album: Slovenia – Bovec, Soca River, Kanal, Smartno
Photo Album: Italy – Lake Predil, Predil Pass Batery, Palmanova, Grado
Photo Album: Leticia, Colombia
Blog: The Dream of Leticia, Colombia
Photo Album: Austrian Alps – Villach, Kalgenfurt,
Lake Worthersee, Pyramidenkogel Tower
Blog: An Undreamed Trip to the Austrian Alps
