Thelife- John and Beverly Martin, 60, sold their Florida home to travel the world during their retirement.
- After visiting all 50 states and 51 national parks, they've traveled to over 91 countries.
This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with John Martin, who previously worked in the aluminum industry, and his wife Beverly, both 60, who have been traveling the world since 2021. The conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
Faroe Islands, Denmark
John: There's a part of Denmark called the Faroe Islands. It actually looks like Iceland, but it's a group of islands north of Scotland and west of Norway. In fact, one of the last James Bond movies was filmed there. It was incredible.
John: There are these steep mountains with waterfalls going into the ocean. It's just a really great place for hiking rugged, raw land. It's just beautiful.
Beverly: They still have Nordic homes and these little seaside villages. They've built a tunnel system underneath the ocean to all the different islands, and you drive to all of these different islands under the tunnels.
John: There was this tunnel through a mountain where on the other side it was just a village of 10 homes.
Riga, Latvia
John: A surprise city for us was Riga, Latvia. It's one of those cities that isn't connected by train to the rest of Europe, so a lot of people miss it.
Beverly: It has this whole area that's very Art Deco. Unfortunately, some of the cities you visit are beautiful but crumbling, but Riga was perfectly intact. It was just really lovely.
John: During World War II, five Zeppelin hangars were built in Riga. The city has taken them over and turned them into a central market. One hangar is fruits, another is vegetables. It's really a sight to see.
I love salmon and it had this smoked salmon that was $1 for two pounds. Unbelievable — and some of the best I've ever had. I just walked around eating it the rest of the afternoon.
Beverly: There's a beautiful river running through the town, which gives you great options for long walks. And the center of town, with this classic Old World feel, has so many great restaurants at a very, very low cost.
Beverly: There's an easy day trip just across the border to this place: the hill of 100,000 crosses. There's nowhere else in the world that looks like it.
Folegandros, Greece
John: We found our favorite spot kind of by accident.
We went to Santorini, Greece. It's beautiful, but it's filled with cruise boats and hordes of visitors. Forty minutes away, there's an island called Folegandros.
We went there to stay a week in April, and it was almost deserted. At one point, it was an island for exiled prisoners because it was completely barren. Now you go around the island and there are hiking trails and gorgeous scenery.
Beverly: You can walk across all of this terraced land and look out over the Aegean Sea, next to herds of goats.
John: We stayed in this little place right on the edge of a 1,000-foot cliff. A yellow farmhouse overlooking the Aegean Sea.
Beverly: There were old windmills on this property that were crumbling and in disrepair. But the woman who owned the farmhouse told us that when she was a little girl, they used to grind the wheat for the whole island. It was such cool history.
John: We didn't have a car, so we walked everywhere we went. And you walk a lot. You walk a mile to town and pass a man on a donkey. It's a whole different world.
Beverly: Folegandros has more churches than people. They told us that when something good happens in your family on the island, you build a church. Some of them are very small, some are medium. Only a handful are quite large. They're like monuments.
There's a church at the top of a hill that the island only visits once a year for Easter. They said visitors can join the parade.