By Lois Requist

Picture this: Germany. October, 1989. My husband and I are on the Autobahn. We have a system. He drives. I navigate and decide where we are staying that night. By four in the afternoon, I’m checking the guidebooks for hotels in our vicinity. (No GPS, cellphones, or Booking.com back then). Traffic snarls and slows. Nerves get a little short. I direct us to a hotel that is more upscale than we usually choose, but, by now, we need a place to stay!
What a lovely inn we found for the night! My husband takes a bubble bath, and the tiredness of the day melts away. At dinner, we feel there’s a bit of snobbishness in the air.    When we leave dinner, the young woman at the front desk who speaks English and is very friendly, says, “Do you know? There’s been an earthquake in San Francisco!”
We scurry to our room and call our son in Alameda. Turns out it has been 18 hours since the quake, and he’s already been out to our house in Moraga. He’s fine. Everything is fine. We decide to go back to the lobby for an after-dinner drink. And now, the news having spread of where we are from, the other guests are very solicitous, inquiring about how things are back at home. We had been a little hasty in our judgment of the other guests.
There was also the night in Helsinki, when I was out late walking. It’s always a challenge to adjust to the time changes, but here, in June, where darkness is only a brief few hours in the middle of the night, I couldn’t sleep. I turned the corner at the International Hotel. Three people and a dog were seated at a table having a drink. I stopped to pet the dog. They were all-over friendly. Where was I from? California. Oh, do sit down and have a drink.
They spoke excellent English. We visited for a while. Then, one of them said, “We’d like to take you someplace—to show you something.” Well, first I demurred. I’d been out all day in the heat. I needed a shower. “You’re fine,” they said.
I guess this is where I say, “I threw caution to the wind.” We drove around the city. They pointed out important places, the president’s home. Finally, they stopped at a restaurant, but it was closed.
“Just wait a minute!” One of them said. He disappeared into the now-dark night. Pretty soon he returned.    “Come on in,” he said.
Inside, it felt very old world. We sat at a long table with the owners and staff of the restaurant. They served after-dinner drinks and a cake soaked in liqueur. I didn’t understand everything that was said, but we talked, laughed, and toasted each other until the sun was about to show up again.
They took me back to the hotel. The woman was a journalist and said she would drop a copy of the magazine she wrote for at the hotel the next day, which she did. To this day, I never think of Helsinki without remembering those people.
So, what got me running on with these travel stories? I went to the Carquinez Village’s Speaker Series in June about travel. Four women who’ve traveled a good deal talked about their experiences and gave many tips. My thanks to Linda Barron, Melody Seymour, Joyce Middlebrook and Ellen Kolowich. They made me remember the above stories and many more.
My husband was stationed in Darmstadt, Germany as a young man. When he learned he had lymphoma and was advised to do anything that was important to him, we traveled to Europe. He wanted to show me the places he’d gone as a young man. For the most part, we planned and traveled independently, and that has usually been my preferred way of travel.     However, many things affect the best way for a person to travel.
Cruising has several things to be said for it: the price is generally all inclusive, so it’s clear what you’ll be spending.  You only unpack once. Everything is basically handled for you.
Tours are much like that—except for the packing part. The way is well-paved for you. You know what it will cost. Tours do vary a great deal in size and activity levels. I’ve done several bicycle tours and a hiking tour. The companies are usually quite clear about how much biking or walking you’ll do. It’s important to pay attention to the details.
The person who talked about cruising said something about dipping your toe in the culture of the country you are visiting; that’s a good analogy. For the most part, you are traveling with people much like yourself and that’s who you spend most of your time with.
When I thought back on my travels, I realized that the stories I remember are about unplanned personal exchanges. And there were so many!
The talk about travel offered so many options and suggestions. There was something for every kind of traveler. The speakers were excellent. The audience peppered them with questions.    If you’re a traveler, it was well worth hearing. You’ll always hear something worthwhile if you come to the Carquinez Village Speakers Series on the third Thursday of each month at 10:30 am at the library.

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