Before I could walk, still a restless baby, my mom placed me in a room while she cleaned our home. When she came to look for me after she was done, I was gone. Frantic, she looked all around the house and didn’t find me. Then she looked outside our home, and again she didn’t find me. She followed the small, narrow drive we lived on, called Meadville Drive, as it wound up a short hill. Again, no me around. Until she finally came upon Woodcliff Road, a semi-busy road in the mountainous area of Sherman Oaks, a suburb of Los Angeles. I was crawling down the center line of the road, cars whizzing by on either side of me. She grabbed me and brought me back to the safety of our home. That was my first trip. I haven’t stopped since.
I’ve lived in Tokyo, Singapore, Hong Kong, Saigon, New York, Los Angeles, and Columbus, Ohio, and super-commuted to a job in Bangkok for five years from my base in Singapore. My work as an ad exec in Asia had me travel extensively, where I learned a lot about the countries I traveled to and the people I befriended in them. I lived in Asia for 28 years.
During the pandemic, when I was truly grounded, I joined the Travelers Century Club, which has a membership requirement of having visited 100 countries and territories, based on their list. I’m up to 143 now.
For me, travel is about the three “L’s”: looking, listening, and learning.
My blog is called Maybe Next Trip, because I believe there should always be a next trip. And the posts and articles that I’ve published over the years will hopefully give you some ideas for travel for your next trip. (FYI, all my blog posts are written by me personally. I don’t use AI at all.)
Jonathan
Maybe Next Trip 