As 2025 was drawing to a close, we finally completed a long-planned trip to Argentina — a destination that had been on our list for years. After beginning our planning in March 2025, we spent a wonderful month there in October and November.
This link — agententina2025.usvellas.com — shares the details of our journey.
In January 2025, for a quick winter break we decided to visit a spot that had been on our list of places for years…the Mexican town of San Miguel de Allende (SMDA). Since there are no direct flights from San Francisco we decided to spend a couple of nights in Mexico City, before our 3-hour bus ride to SMDA.
Three months after returning from Australia and settling back into our place in Tiburon, we decided to jump into a road trip across Canada — and then loop back through the U.S. We leased a new hybrid plug-in Kia Sportage and hit the road on August 4, 2024. From Tiburon, we headed north up the West Coast to Vancouver, Canada, before turning east. You can follow our journey in the travel blog here:- 2024 – Trans Canada
Covid put a damper on overseas travel. But as the world slowly returned a little closer to normal, in November 2023, we travelled to Japan to be amazed by its people and places.
Nothing excited us more than the idea of a trip to Europe after being “country-bound” in Australia for over two years. Joe’s old London friends (now living in Melbourne) from 50 years ago were going on a river cruise, and it sounded like we were invited to join. We’d never been big on ocean cruises, but a river cruise really appealed to us. The plan was a two-week journey with Australian-based APT, sailing from Amsterdam to Budapest along the Rhine and Danube rivers.
After being housebound for a year, we took a simple 10-day road trip to South Australia in February 2021. It was exactly what we needed to refresh our Covid-tired minds. On the drive back home, we found ourselves talking about how much we missed road-tripping, and the idea of getting another caravan started to take shape.
As soon as we got back to Melbourne, the planning began. This time we wanted to go with a “less is more” approach, and a gently used EcoTourer turned out to be the perfect fit.
Seriously, it checked all the boxes — compact, easy to tow, and just enough comfort without the bulk. Before long, EcoTourer joined the family and we were back in trip-planning mode. Getting back on the road felt like getting a piece of ourselves back, and this little caravan was exactly what we needed to ease into traveling again.
2020 rolled around, and this was Joe’s 70th birthday. Like everyone else, we were living the COVID lockdown life in Melbourne, so any normal celebrations were off the table. Mary quietly reached out to Joe’s friends and family and asked them to send in videos or photos so she could put together a birthday collage. The response was amazing — more than 50 people sent something in.
She did an incredible job keeping it all a secret and putting the video together, especially since we were basically stuck in the apartment. It was such a fun way to start Joe’s birthday. Afterward, Joe used his tech skills to clean up and polish the final video, which we’re now sharing for anyone who wants to watch.
We’d always wanted to experience Europe like locals, so in September 2017 we headed over and made Malta our home base while we traveled around the continent. Click the links below to read the blogs about our experiences, travels, and observations.
In 2017, we continued our journey along Australia’s east coast, this time focusing on the island state of Tasmania. Our 2017 Australia Caravan Trip blog shares our travels and experiences with Ranger and Silver.