Short Story Fiction
World Class Travelers
A unique way of budget traveling kept these two on the go for years.
Their adventures took them to many exotic places like the middle East, the Far East, Europe, Asia, Africa, North America, South America. They even made it a point to travel through all fifty American states.
Clarence Class was a travelin’ man. He had been to every country in the world at least once. At age ninety he was still going strong.
Clarence and his wife Eunice caught the travel bug when they were in their seventies.
They were travel partners. Their adventures took them to many exotic places like the middle East, the Far East, Europe, Asia, Africa, North America, South America. They even made it a point to travel through all fifty American states.
Together they saw the Great Pyramids in Egypt, the Eiffel Tower in France, The Great Wall of China and many other world wonders. They visited hundreds of tropical islands. From Hawaii to Tahiti to the Maldives. They had been to so many they eventually lost count.
To Clarence and Eunice, life was a gift and it was their mission to make the best of it. Each day was an adventure that in their own way, needed to be lived to its fullest and that’s exactly what they did.
They filled their library with souvenirs and picture books from many of their adventures.
They organized travel parties and promoted their unique way of budget traveling. At times they invited friends to travel with them.
It all started on a cold Winter day when Clarence was feeling a bit confined. A Minnesota snowfall was piling it up high. The temperature had been hoovering in the teens for almost a week.
Clarence decided he needed to get away. A tropical vacation was on his mind so he got online and began to research sunny warm places. Soon he and Eunice were exploring Ambergris Caye just off the Coast of Belize. From that day on the travel bug had them hooked.
For twelve glorious years the two of them traveled extensively. It was a time of renewal for them both. It brought them closer together, strengthening their relationship and increasing their perspective of the world they shared. Without their brand of travel, retirement would have been boring.
Eunice passed away while they were in the middle of visiting Isla Grande off the coast of Panama. Clarence felt so bad he gave up his travel lifestyle for close to a year. But the pull was too great. He needed to see more of the world. Before he knew it he was off to the Mediterranean. His first stop was Portugal. From there he headed to Spain.
For the next two years Clarence traveled. Nothing, including his age slowed him down.
He collected more souvenirs to add to his burgeoning library.
When he turned ninety. His kids held a party for him and he enjoyed their company while they were at the house. But not long after they left and he began to feel lonesome.
He loved his kids but he missed his wife and travel partner, Eunice.
He did very little traveling for the next couple of months. His kids were getting worried.
When they hadn’t heard from him in several days, his oldest son stopped by the house to check on him. He found his dad slumped over his computer. He had passed away.
It looked like he had passed away while traveling in Italy. His Google maps program showed he had been touring the streets of Rome and his Amazon account showed he had just ordered another souvenir.
Clarence had gone back to his unique way of budget traveling. Watching YouTube travel video’s and vicariously traveling the world through the eyes of others.
© Copyright 2023 by Scott A. Gese All Rights Reserved.
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Our Top Five Most Read Articles/Short Stories for the Month of November
(and Five From the File)
<HERE>
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by Scott A. Gese
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The Phantom of the Opera
(1925) Lon Chaney, Norman Kerry, Mary Philbin
At the Opera of Paris, a mysterious phantom threatens a famous lyric singer, Carlotta and thus forces her to give up her role for unknown Christine Daae.
Christine meets this phantom in the catacombs, where he lives.