We docked this morning in Southampton and are now at the ferry terminal in Poole to go to the Channel Islands, Guernsey for one night, Jersey for one night, then on to France to go on down to southern Italy.

Matching Blouses   Two nights ago I had to pack our dress clothes for Eduardus to put into storage. Last night, after laying out clothes and toiletries for this morning, everything else was packed and went out into the hall, ready to be offloaded this morning. Lately I've been wearing black tees and white tees that have a smooth, silky look. This morning as I was getting dressed, I picked up the black tee I'd laid out and found it was one of a set of matching blouses in different colors I'd recently bought Bev. It was a matter of going to breakfast with no shirt or Bev's blouse. We made a fetching couple at breakfast in matching black (for me) and blue (for Bev) blouses. The scoop-neck design made the look especially appealing (or not). At least it was easy to get into. As soon as we got our luggage on the pier I made the switch on the spot.

Travelers   I'd like to define what I feel it is that Bev and I have been doing for four decades. Different people use different words, usually interchangably, but we’ve always seen a difference.

Vacationers We are most definitely not on a vacation. You vacation from a job or other work. Often you vacation at home. We have occasionally vacationed away from home, but rarely. Sometimes vacationing involves travel, sometimes just travel to a resort. When you vacation, you relax. We are not relaxing. We'll do that when we get home. What we do is hard work, and great fun. In the past we have gone on walking tours through cities for twelve hours at a time, day after day, stopping just to eat. It was exhilerating. We still put in long days, but now, because of the wheelchair, there is less walking and more driving.

Tourists (on Tours) Many people like to take tours. The trouble with that is that you are at the mercy of what the guides want to tell and show you. You also get the syndrome of "If this is Tuesday, it must be Belgium". If you don't prepare yourself what you want to do and see, it will not stay with you.

Let me use an obvious example. Suppose someone didn't know what the Eiffel Tower was, and it was pointed out to them. Compare that with knowing what it is, and finally getting to see it. Now extend that to anything worth seeing anywhere. You have to know about it in advance to really appreciate it. We have of necessity been tourists on tours, usually on day trips, once over a few days. I remember being dissatisfied on each one, usually ending up arguing with the tour director.

What it comes down to is whether a person is a tourist or a traveler. Here "tourist" implies just someone self-guiding, and not on a tour. Tourists and travelers do many of the same things. I see the difference between the two is outlook. Tourists look upon themselves as outsiders looking in. Travelers become temporary locals. If you stop at a local shop for a picnic, pull up beside the road for "a loaf of bread, a jug of wine, and thou", you are likely a traveler. Also, travelers add out-of-the-way destinations to their itinerary in addition to more popular places, or also go to places just because they’re quirky.

If you think that knowledge of the local language helps, you of course are quite right. But even without such knowledge, pointing and gesturing are part of the game. In any case, if you travel in Britain, language is not a problem for Americans. I would challenge anyone so inclined, however, to begin to actively use local speech in Britain, both vocabulary and pronunciation. If an American can talk about getting off the lift, sitting down and ordering a hahlf-pint of lager, all without feeling overly self-conscious, he/she is well on the way to becoming a temporary local, and thereby, a traveler (British: traveller). Bev and I are travelers.

Travelers' Century Club   Fortunately, there is a club for people like us. Everyone likes recognition for what they do. It's human nature. The student who never missed school during the year enjoys getting a certificate saying so. We have been travelers for four decades, moving about extensively. Isn't there any recognition for that?

The Travelers' Century Club has been around for about a half-century. I'd heard of it in the past and looked into it, but didn't think it was for us. Recently I saw another article about it in the Times and became interested again, especially since they now have a website.

First of all, it's for travelers, and that word pleases me. The word "century" doesn't refer to a hundred years, only to the number 100. You see, to join the TCC you have to have visited 100 countries.

Now be aware that the TCC doesn't just stick to a stark political definition of what a country is. It extends the meaning to include geography, and common sense from the point of view of the traveler.. Two non-contiguous parts of a country are considered separately, as are major islands or island groups. Therefore, Corsica is considered separately from the rest of France for a total of two destinations, or "countries". Alaska and Hawaii are each considered separately from the continental US for a total of three. European and Asian Russia are considered separately.

The greatest difference comes in the UK. It is logical from a travel point of view that Engand, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland are each considered separately, for a total of four. Actually, the Isle of Man has a separate political system and is also considered separately. So are Guernsey and Jersey, so extensive travel in the UK can give you a total of seven. We have never been to the Isle of Man, but are now headed for Guernsey and Jersey. We have now found that our way of travel fits in perfectly with the TCC philosophy. I have four examples.

We were in Istanbul only once, many years ago. It's in the smaller, European part of Turkey. While we were there, we thought it would be fun to take the ferry across the Bosporus, not only for a nice ride, but to be able to step off in Üsküdar on the Asian side of Turkey, just for the fun of it, and then get right back on the ferry. We now find that we can count both European and Asian Turkey in our TCC totals.

When we were in Canada and went out to Newfoundland, we purposely took the ferry to St Pierre and Micquelon, a French colony just off Newfoundland. Many people are unaware that it's there. It's not only more French than Québec, it's more French than France. We spent the night at a pleasant little hotel in the town of St Pierre. They of course used French francs then, and use euros now, just in case you didn't think that euros were used anywhere in North America. St Pierre and Micquelon now count for us as one more "country". Perhaps “destination” is a better word.

Since elementary school I found it interesting that Spain has kept two tiny enclaves in Morocco, Ceuta and Melilla, as "Spanish North Africa". When were were studying Spanish for eight weeks in Málaga in 1990, we had time on our hands, so we went one day to Algeciras and took the hydrofoil for 90 minutes over to Ceuta in North Africa. Remember, this is close to the Straits of Gibraltar, so you go across the Mediterranean quickly. We walked throught some bazaars, and then went back. Ceuta/Melilla now adds to our tally.

Finally, last summer in Northern Italy, we drove as far south as the Adriatic seaside resort of Rimini for a night, not to see the beach, but to be able to drive an hour inland and visit the old republic of San Marino. As it turned out, when I did my temporary tally to see where we stand for potential membership in the TCC, San Marino was destination # 79. When we got off the ferry two days ago in Guernsey I said "80", and getting off the ferry yesterday here in Jersey, I said "81".

Guernsey & Jersey   Lying off the coast of Normandy in France, the Channel Islands of Guernsey and Jersey (Photo by Cnbrb, UKPhoenix79, TomPhil) are pleasant islands, but if they were placed in the center of the English countryside, they'd not be particularly remarkable. They have a degree of poltical autonomy, and yesterday I picked up some pound notes labeled "States of Jersey". I used some and exchanged the others, since they have no validity outside Jersey. Cows with both these names are well known, and we just had some ice cream made from "fresh Jersey milk". These Channel Islands (Photo by Aotearoa) were the only part of Britain occupied during World War Two. The taxi driver yesterday, when I said we were from New York, pointed out Elizabeth Castle in the harbor where the original papers had been signed establishing the colony of New Jersey in the New World. I told him we look out on New Jersey across the Hudson from our apartment.

Usually, we go about sightseeing, but there is less to see here of the type of things we like, so we have been enjoying our hotels, both of which I found in Michelin and booked online. The De Havelet in Guernsey is in a 200-year old manor house, and we enjoyed sitting yesterday in the public rooms and garden. Then the taxi driver took us on a bit of a tour on the way to the ferry terminal. Here in Jersey, we're in the Grand, dating from 1891, which has charming public rooms. We've spent the middle of the day here on the enclosed front porch looking out onto the harbour and having a bite to eat. I've been lucky at finding plugins, so that the laptop battery isn't taxed too much. We've hired a driver to take us on a short tour of Jersey, and then on to the ferry to France.