Beyond the Western
World Class Travelers
Scott A. Gese


They visited hundreds of tropical islands. Image source: David Straight/Unsplash

A unique way of budget traveling kept these two on the go for years.


Beyond the Western

Clarence Class was a travelin’ man. He had been to every country in the world at least once. He was going strong, but then suddenly, at age 90 he stopped. Not because he wanted to. It’s just hard to do when you’re dead.

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 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 into 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, 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 soon they left and he began to feel lonesome.

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 had passed away.

He was slumped over his computer. He had gone back to his way of traveling. Watching YouTube travel video’s. 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.

© Copyright 2018 by Scott A. Gese All Rights Reserved.