My Travel Notions is just that…my travel experiences to a lot of wonderful places that I get to immerse myself in, photograph and write about.

I’m Diana Petterson and I actually began my extensive travels more than 18 years ago when I took myself to Rome, Florence, Venice, Paris and London in celebration of my 50th birthday.  And, since then, I’ve traveled throughout France, Spain, Portugal, Sicily, Greece, Turkey, South Africa, Norway, Benin and so much more.

As we enter 2024, I am embarking on my countdown of 100 United Nations or U.N. countries before I turn 70 in March of 2026. At present I have visited 81 countries, but only 76 of them are U.N. countries so I really do have my work cut out for me if I plan to meet my goal. I just love a good goal and this one, although challenging on many levels, suits me. Stay tuned to see how this goes. But South Korea, Japan and some Caribbean and African countries are on the 2024 schedule. Plus a U.S. and Canada trip to Alaska and Vancouver. 

For a little background, after 28 years of working for the U.S. Department of Labor, I retired after turning 60 to be free to travel about the world. In celebration of both turning 60 and retiring in March 2016, I embarked on a 60-day journey through 11 countries including Germany, the Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary, Slovenia, Slovakia, Bosnia Herzegovina, Croatia, Romania, Bulgaria and Serbia. I was on two Rick Steves tours, one Cosmos tour and on my own from April 24 to June 22, 2016. Those trips can be seen on my blog posts “60 Day Europe Bash.” But, it doesn’t end there.

I spent some of 2017 traveling through Sicily, Italy and Malta. Plus, I’m discovering the wonders of the U.S., in most cases places I’ve never been before like, Boston, Massachusetts; Newport, Rhode Island and Martha’s Vineyard. I also did a road trip with a friend through North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia. I don’t have a deadline but my goal is to step foot into every state in the union.

Although I broke both bones in my right leg in November of 2017, and had to cancel already planned trips, I recovered well enough to get back on the road again, which is exactly what I did when I hit the road with travel buddies, Alice and Tammy for Denmark, Germany, Luxembourg, Belgium and the Netherlands in May/June of 2018. And, South Africa in September/October of 2018.

I began 2019 in the West African countries of Ghana, Benin and Togo before moving onto a year-long travel schedule that included Miami and Cuba in March; Paris, Morocco, Spain, Albania, Macedonia, Montenegro, Kosovo and Dubrovnik, Croatia in April and May; Ireland, Scotland and England in July and August; and the Sudan, Ethiopia, Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan and Israel in September and October.

And, for 2020 my goal was #20countries2020 that I had never been to. I started the year off in Central America visiting Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua. And, while I was on my journey through South East Asia, from Thailand through to Indonesia for almost two months, Intrepid Travel suspended the last few weeks of my tour due to the spread of the Coronavirus or also known as Covid-19, which basically spread from China to throughout the world. Plus Malaysia, the country I was in just before Intrepid suspended the tour, was about to close its borders so that meant I needed to get back to the U.S. which was also closing its borders to travelers from China, Iran and Europe. So, instead of traveling through to April 4, I scrambled to get an American Airlines flight out of Kuala Lumpur on March 17. I did get to visit Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia and Malaysia, but the remaining trip to the city/state of Singapore and Indonesia were canceled.

Like most of the world, I hybernated for almost a year, until I got my Covid vaccine shots in February and March of 2021. By the summer, many countries were starting to open up again, especially Europeon countries. And, when Spain open its doors, I decided it was time to travel internationally again. That’s when I spent a month solo traveling in Spain with mainly other Spaniards. And, I loved it! It was the actual medicine I needed to fill my soul. Whatever hesitation I had about traveling again, were put to rest. Like the Spaniards, I wore my mask for indoor activities and on public transports. With that journey in the books, I began to plan travel outings again and have not looked back. I ended 2021 by going to Iceland in October on an Intrepid Travel tour.

And, 2022 began with a trip of a lifetime to Antarctica. From there, in April and May, I took myself to Portugal, walked the Camino Portugues from Portugal into Spain, met friends in Istanbul, then spent time in France and the Basque Country of France and Spain before heading back home.

Then in July 2022, I was back on the road again to the six Scandinavian and Baltic Countries of Norway, Sweden, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania. And, I also made it to the former Soviet Union countries of Azerbaijan, Georgia and Armenia. All of which you can read about on this blog.

In 2023, I started the year with a birthday trip to Latin America visiting Ecuador and Colombia before spending two incredible months traveling through Italy and two weeks after that on a tour of Switzerland. And, to end my year or travel, I spent close to a month in September traveling through Central to Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan.

In my personal life, I am mother to two incredible adults, my son Vernon Wells III, my daughter Sydney Wells and grandmother to two amazing grandsons, Jayce and Christian. And, my 90-year-old mother, Carmen, is still kicking and being awesome. When I’m not traveling, my family and my friends are the center of my universe.

Thank you for following along.