For the last 27 months, Bonnie and I have been on the move. We've made three long trips of 60 days or longer and two short trips of 14 days to, collectively, 50 countries.

You must at some time have wondered why we do it; why we seem to enjoy taking a cruise so much when for our first 65 years neither of us took any. How could we leave our beautiful home and fun-filled lives to schlep luggage?

Here's are the answers:

To Learn

This answer was a consequence of traveling and not the original purpose for our trips. From deep diving into the lives of dung beetles, discovering stumble stones in European cities, encountering penguins face to face and then researching the magnificent creatures, each day brought us new life lessons. Culture, history, sciences were just the start. By the end you've learned more about your partner and yourself.

So, when you're old, you can still learn stuff, which is the greatest gift of getting off the couch and going.

Destinations

Our dreams started with a checklist of cities and wonders of the world we wanted to visit. Only on a cruise, can you wake up in the morning, open the curtains and you're in another country. No packing. No schlepping. No finding a place to eat. And no end to places worth exploring. We started these adventures with a no-brainer: African safari. We were told we'd never see anything better and that remains true. But that hasn't lessened the fabulousness of the other destinations. For example, we thought Antarctica would be a seasickness expedition to see ice and maybe a penguin or two through a telescope. Instead it was the most surrealistic experience ever, seemingly in a different universe.

The Guides

We've had bad excursions, but we've never had a bad guide. Many guides have been on excursions arranged by the ships. But we've found plenty on our own and have been quite lucky. We had a bad excursion in Buenos Aires, where the destination was a boat trip up the Tigre River. Quite boring. But our guide on the bus trip to and from the river made the day. Her knowledge of Argentine history and culture was thorough and fascinating. So we came back satisfied that we had learned a lot. We had a tour with the first female tuk-tuk guide in Lisbon. The two-hour tour turned into four hours with as interesting a person as we've ever encountered.

The Ships, Passengers and Crew

We've been on identical 700-passenger small ships and it's the best way to go. The ships are small enough to get into ports and passages that big ships cannot. There's plenty to do on sea days. We connected with maybe 10% passengers and crew. That's more than enough to gain knowledge of many regions of the world. We unite at dinner, on excursions, the laundry room and in our stateroom hallways. Sometimes conversations are more informative than excursions. Most passengers have traveled more than us. We've listened intently and learned. Without exception, the staff is well-trained and friendly. Today I'm thinking of two wonderful crew members from Myanmar, which was hit by a horrible earthquake.

I have to circle back to the ship before moving on. It's remarkable how much you come to think of it as home. There have been multiple times when I went out on my own on an adventure. The first sight on my ship is what calms me.

We Don't Lose Touch

The ship internet is mostly reliable and it's a key factor in long-term cruising. If we couldn't speak to our families and friends frequently and video chat regularly, I don't see how we could take these adventures.

To Inspire

When I was a little kid my aunt and uncle would take summer driving trips from the East Coast to the West Coast. My cousin and I would receive postcards from "exotic" places and some would have treats like salt (from Salt Lake City) and fool's gold (from California). So when you read my blog, think of it as a postcard.