In May 2019, I walked downstairs, in the Peace Corps Armenia Headquarters, and rang the bell. My “Close of Service” duties were done, and I was leaving service thirty days early. Upon hearing the bell, the Peace Corps staff joined me at the door. After we said our goodbyes, I was once again a Returned Peace Corps volunteer. I flew to London and made my way to Iceland.

I booked one night, at the Silica Hotel. It’s a 35-room boutique property famous for being built directly into a moss-covered lava plain. The front desk let me borrow a swimsuit and the shuttle bus dropped me at the Blue Lagoon entrance. Talk about healing waters. Stepping into them felt like the perfect way to celebrate. And, just like that, the thirty-day window for my next assignment officially began.

I needed a malaria test that couldn’t be done in Armenia. After Iceland, I headed to Duke University Medical. My blood test was sent to the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota. The results were returned to Duke Medical. I uploaded them to the Peace Corps Medical Office. With five days to spare, I was medically cleared. Peace Corps booked my flight to Virginia and I made my way to the staging hotel, to meet my new cohort. A month after leaving Armenia, I was on my way to Ethiopia.

After finishing Peace Corps PST (Pre Service Training) and teaching for a full term, I flew to Zanzibar. Going there had been a goal, ever since my Peace Corps Kenya service in the 1980s. Stone Town was the hub for slavery in East Africa and home to the world’s last legally operating open slave market. It closed down in 1873. As a retired African Studies librarian, I made sure to visit the Old Slave Market, the Underground Slave Chambers, and the nearby “Memory for the Slaves” sculpture.

One Australian, three brothers from Alaska, and a Black woman from Detroit, walked onto a ship … Sounds like the beginning of a good joke, right? We had so much fun, sailing from Stockholm to Helsinki, that we took one photo and then immediately returned to Sweden. I promised to find the brothers in Athens. But, I was in Tangier, when it was time to meet. I looked for them, in Alaska, while I volunteered with AmeriCorps. I failed.

A plane was set ablaze, on the tarmac, at the Port-au-Prince airport, the day of my flight. My job refused to approve hotel stays in the city. I booked a hotel in Pétion-Ville, with armed guards at the entrance. The next day, I had visitors and the best coconut shrimp I’ve ever tasted. My guests provided me with a driver and translator, for the book festival I was there to attend. After meeting with book vendors, I watched young children line up, purchase a book, find a place to sit, and just begin reading it. Part of my heart will forever be in Haiti.

Long story short, in 1985, I arrived in Belfast, on my way to Derry. I booked a hostel, by a Protestant cemetery. The next day, I crossed from the Protestant side, to the Catholic side, and entered a Marks & Spencer. I was lifted into the air and tossed to the floor. My backpack was emptied out, while I smiled and thought, “I’ve just been tossed in Belfast!” I repacked and ran for the exit, past a large sign that read: “Check all bags here!” I headed to the train station, chickened out, and went to Dublin.

Walking the Camino de Santiago, in 2023, I told that story to every Irish person I met. They all laughed and said, “What were you doing in Belfast, in 1985? You’d have been safer in Derry! Thirty-eight years later, I sat in a McDonald’s, in Derry, waiting for my hotel’s check-in time. A man approached and called me by name. He was the manager of the hotel. I still have no idea how he recognized me. He told me to give him a few minutes, as he was still shopping for today’s breakfast. From that moment on, Derry felt like home!

I fell and cracked a front tooth, a few months before my AmeriCorps service in Alaska was done. I needed a dental implant. So, I headed back to Armenia and looked up my old Peace Corps dentist. She knew a guy. He did the tooth extraction and bone graft. I paid out of pocket for the material. Ninety days later, I had to return, so my former Peace Corps dentist could do the implant placement. I thought, “Where can I go and not care about a missing front tooth?” I booked a flight to France to walk the Camino de Santiago!

Speaking of dental hygiene, I get my six-month dental cleanings wherever I am in the world, London, Mexico City, etc. On a solo Central America trip, I visited all seven countries. By Honduras, it was time for a cleaning. I had booked three weeks, in a gated area, in San Pedro Sula. I did a Google search for “dentist near me!” Once there, I noticed a guy across the street, guarding a shop, while armed with an AK-47 rifle. Hey, at least I’d be safe while waiting for my Uber ride home.

My very first solo trip was to London, England, in 1984. I arrived hours before the song “Do They Know It’s Christmas” was recorded. I didn’t know London well enough to figure out where the recording studio was located. Gutted, I made plans to go to Liverpool. When the day arrived, I decided to skip it and sleep in. That evening, the news reported that Paul McCartney had received the Key to the City of Liverpool, while I slept. Clearly, that should have been a sign that I should never travel solo again.

The travel experience I never knew I needed happened in Laos. I started out with almost a week in Vientiane. Then, I took a train to Vang Vieng. That city is one of my top five favorite places in the world, along with Da Nang, Port Elizabeth, Chiang Rai, and Cartagena. I ended the visit with a stay in Luang Prabang, to witness the daily alms-giving ceremony. Laos started out as just a stop before Cambodia and Angkor Wat. Turned out, Siem Reap felt like a tourist destination. Vang Vieng felt like home.

Although I’m not listing Kenya, Armenia, and Ethiopia, (all Peace Corps countries that I served in) in my top ten, I will end this list with Sitka, Alaska. I met my AmeriCorps cohort at the airport in Seattle. As we approached Sitka, we were all speechless. None of us could believe our good fortune. We had been forced to leave our Peace Corps sites, due to the pandemic. But, we ended up in one of the most beautiful places we’d ever seen.

I enjoyed Sitka so much that I signed up for a second year. I finally left, in May of 2022. I went to Puerto Escondido, for my birthday. I then purchased an Amtrak rail pass and traveled around the USA for a month. I was just killing time, until November, and full Social Security age. I left the USA, on December 1st. I’ve been traveling, full time, ever since. If it ain’t broke … XOXO—GGT