To help us all feel a little closer while we’re physically apart, we’re sharing letters to and from those who made their adventures memorable. Today, we have published a very special submission (with his permission): one Intrepid traveller, Trevor, reflecting on many years of adventures with his late wife, Linda. #BeTogether
—
Dear Intrepid,
My wife, Linda, and I took 14 trips with yourselves over the past 12 years. The friendships we made have been long-standing.
My wife passed away on March 25 after a brave, 9-month battle with cancer. We had been married for 44 years and in that time, had enjoyed so many travel experiences together. It’s a well-worn phrase but she was indeed my best friend, soul mate and the best travel companion one could wish for – and I miss her immensely. We had some amazing experiences right through the years and the past 12 years with Intrepid only served to heighten those experiences to greater levels.
We had been travelling extensively mainly in in Europe, but in 2008 when the euro was near parity with the pound, Linda went into a Trailfinders shop and naively said to the sales representative, “My husband and I would like to hire a car in Singapore and travel through Malaysia to Bangkok”. Fortunately, the sales representative had just returned from an Intrepid trip following this route and so we caught the Intrepid bug.
Since that first trip, we have been to Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam, Cambodia, Myanmar, China, Japan, Russia, Costa Rica, Cuba, India, Nepal, Hong Kong, Morocco and more – some countries more than once. Our trips always included great travelling companions, great leaders, amazing cultural experiences, interacting with the locals, superb scenery, lovely food (not only in local restaurants; some of the street food was second to none) and importantly, fantastic fun – or as they say in Northern Ireland, “great Craic”. All these things Linda and I just loved.
When I put the news on Linda’s passing on Facebook, I got messages from our Intrepid friends in Australia, Bolivia, Canada, China, France, India, New Zealand, Switzerland, the UK, the USA. Some of these friends we have stayed with and vice versa over the years, and we have kept in touch. Some of them are even past Intrepid leaders and, amazingly, I was invited to a leader’s wedding in the USA which unfortunately, due to the current virus situation, has been cancelled.
At Linda’s funeral service, the minister said that the holidays we went on weren’t holidays at all but “adventures”. How true!
Once this virus is over, I’ll be back on the road. That’s what Linda would have wanted.
Trevor
