Carol of Carolina: Cruising Past 70 retired from business and government in the Philippines and migrated to the United States in 2004. While babysitting her grandson, teaching at the University, and volunteering for the Service Corps of Retired Executives in Seattle, Washington, she met a Washington businessman on the Net and a year later, they married. Their eight-year honeymoon seemed never-ending as they RVed across North America. After this adventure, they took root at the Viewpoint Golf Resort in Phoenix. Her first book, Carolina: Cruising to an American Dream, tells the story of their travels through 49 American states, 9 Canadian provinces, and 6 Mexican states.
Family and friends can’t understand why they are still constantly on the go. Now, in their seventies, they are traveling less -- six months a year instead of twelve -- and more slowly and comfortably. While many people still work at this age, she chose to continue traveling. When working in the Philippines, she was sent on many business trips, but they were not the kind of trips that satisfied her traveler’s soul. When she retired, something powerful was unleashed in her. Because she was no longer confined to trips defined by tasks, she has been able to visit 48 countries.
Her mother, a country expert in deaf education, was also sent around the globe for work. When she was a scholar in the U.S. for a year, she wrote many letters. One of her letters became Carol's defining moment. In it, she enclosed dry gold, yellow, orange, and red maple autumn leaves. It led her to wonder if she could also send snow! Since then, some of her favorite places have included Mexico, where she and her husband now spend three winter months out of the year, the Philippines which they visit from time to time, and of course, the U.S. where they live. You may also find her visiting her daughters in San Francisco, Calgary, and Melbourne and her stepchildren in Boise, Denver, and Anchorage.
