travel adventures Archives - Inspired & Strong | Making the Best of Every Day with Stacy

New Year 2026

January 20, 2026 No Comments

Happy New Year, my friends! I know it’s been a loooooonnnnnnnngggggggg time since I last posted. I do apologize. Life has been crazy busy but super fun, which hasn’t given me much downtime to write. My New Year’s resolution is to do better.

Speaking of Resolutions, I hope yours are going well if you have started any. Instead of resolutions, My Heart and I go through our year in review as Tim Ferris suggests in his “5 Bullet Fridays“. We go through our calendar and review the events of the past year. What did we do? What trips did we go on? What people did we spend time with? What activities did we do? Did we take care of our health and well-being? What did we enjoy? Would we do it again? What was good and bad? Then we continue down each event and each friend or family member we interacted with. We discuss how we felt about the experience and put it in the positive, negative, or neutral column. Then we try to put the positive things on our calendar for the new year. I think this is a great way to review your year, to open communication with your partner about your likes and dislikes, and determine how you want to move forward together.

If your goal is to be healthier this new year, reread this post from 2022 and take a look under my tab Healthy Habits for easy workouts you can do at home under How We Move, and check out How We Eat for recipes.

If you want to travel, then look at different websites and find great deals, and go where you have always wanted to go. Get your passport, get that airline ticket, go on that cruise. Life is short. Get it on the calendar. Make the sacrifices to save the money so you can go on that Dream Vacation.

If your goal is to spend more quality time at home and with the people you love, then again, make those plans. Figure out how you can meet up with them if you aren’t in the same town. As a family, figure out how you can spend more quality time together. Take one day each week and turn off technology. No phones, no video games, just family time. Make it a game night where you can interact with each other. Movie nights are fun, and there is a time and place for them, but for solid quality time, turn off technology and interact. Ask each other questions, build a puzzle, or play a game. I know we all have a hard time without our phones, but we need to start making an effort to put them away for a day, a night, or an afternoon. Show the kids it’s ok to be out of reach for a few hours.

Well, this post is short and sweet. I wish you a Happy, Healthy New Year and a year full of gratitude. Try to remember life is a blessing. We never know when it will be taken away. Live life to the fullest, tell people you love them, and pass on a smile to a stranger because they may need it.

Photo by Crazy nana on Unsplash

In Weekly Wednesday Words

80/20 Rule

July 30, 2025 No Comments

I saw this chart on social media and had to share. It’s such a true statement and something to live by. Our trainer at our gym in Pennsylvania always says that nutrition is so much more important than the exercise. You need to find something you like to do to stay active but if you truly want to lose weight you need to focus on nutrition. When I saw the rest of the list, it hit home that the 80/20 rule can be applied to many aspects of life and I think the rule will make your life that much better!

Health:

80% Nutrition, 20% exercise

Conversation:

80% listening, 20% talking

Success:

80% action, 20% vision

Love:

80% giving, 20% receiving

Growth:

80% effort, 20% ideas

Master the 80%. The 20% will follow.

Photo by Austin Distel on Unsplash

In Pilot's Wife

Bathroom Doors

July 15, 2025 No Comments

As you know, My Valentine and I are never home. Most of the time, we travel via airplane. And if you know me, you know I have the world’s smallest bladder. Therefore, I pretty much know where every bathroom is in any given place. And for some reason, I keep noticing whether the bathroom door opens in or out.

Every time I go to the bathroom in an airport and the door opens into the toilet, I get immediately frustrated. Who decided to open the door inward, especially in an airport where people have suitcases, backpacks, purses, and who knows what else? So, you have to go through the bathroom door with your suitcase and maneuver your way around the tiny space, trying not to rub the dirty toilet with your clothes or your belongings. It’s a pain in the ass.

I don’t understand why the bathroom door opens inward. Who designed these bathroom stalls? Why not open outward? Would it make that much of a difference? If it opened outward, then you’d have room to maneuver with all of your belongings. Or make the stalls longer so you have room to move. I get so excited when I open the door and it’s a nice, long stall. Oh, the little things.

Maybe I am getting older and more crotchety, but this is slowly becoming a big pet peeve of mine. A close second to those damn shopping carts that people are too lazy to take back.

Anyway, just a small post on my thoughts for the day. I guess my lesson learned is that I need to let the little things go. There are things in this world I cannot change. I can’t change people who are too lazy to take their carts back to the store, and I can’t change the designs of the bathroom doors around the world. My lesson learned is that I need to let go of these little things that I cannot change. I need to do my duty and return my cart. I need to forget about the design of the bathroom door opening inwards, and I need to enjoy my adventures wherever my journey takes me.

Photo by Tim Mossholder on Unsplash

In Pilot's Wife

Fourth of July

July 9, 2025 No Comments

This past weekend, My Heart and I spent a few days on a ranch in Norwood, CO, which is just outside Telluride. We were invited by a couple we have known for a few years, but have gotten closer with since our summer, and then move to Park City. They always have a gathering of friends for the July Fourth holiday.

Although My Prince had been away at work, and came home for a day, we decided to pack up the Harley and make the six-hour drive from Park City to Norwood for the Fourth of July instead of staying home. We knew we needed to pack for warm days and cool nights.

Although it was a bit chilly, it was a beautiful ride. We did get rained on for the last 30 minutes, which was a bit miserable. But we made it.

When we got there, everyone was hanging out in the house waiting for the raindrops to go away. Our hosts were welcoming and showed us to our camper. We changed out of our rain gear and started meeting the wonderful people who were there for this Fourth of July celebration.

Finally, the rain stopped, and we were able to hang out by the cabin and the fire. The kids made s’mores and roasted marshmallows. The adults chatted the night away. Finally, it was bedtime.

The next morning, we headed to downtown Telluride for the Fourth of July Parade down Main Street. My Valentine and I rode the bike to town and again saw some amazing views. The town is quaint and straight out of a movie. People lined each side of the road waiting for the parade to start. The highlight that everyone was waiting for would come at noon when the Colorado Air National Guard would do a flyby in their F-16’s. And let me tell you, those jets came out of nowhere! They flew right over Main Street, then up the side of the mountain. It was awesome.

After the parade was over, we headed to the park to find some food and listen to a few bands. It ended up being a beautiful sunny Fourth of July day.

That afternoon, we packed up and headed back to the ranch. We had dinner and gathered around the Cabin again. I was exhausted and soon headed to bed. My need for sleep outweighed my FOMO.

The next morning, we said our goodbyes and headed out on the motorcycle. Our friends suggested a beautiful ride through Rico, CO. It added almost two hours to our trip, but was well worth it. We stopped at the cutest cafe, called Fireweed, which is owned by the daughter of one of our friends. We had a delicious breakfast and continued our journey home through Moab. The views were breathtaking.

Our friends who own the ranch, as well as most of the people we spent the Holiday with, are in the airline industry. What is amazing is how small the airline industry is. We met a woman from Arizona who invited us to her house. We met two more couples from Park City, whom we hope to play golf with and spend more time together this summer. It is amazing how you can meet people and just click.

Although most of these people have had beautiful friendships for 20 years, they welcomed us right in. They made us feel at home. We all shared stories around the campfire as we got to know each other better. We laughed and made memories for years to come.

I hope you realize it’s never too late to meet new friends. It’s never too late to come out of your comfort zone and meet new people. It’s never too late to make new memories. I hope your Independence Day was as special as ours.

In Travel Junkie

Ski Journey

March 18, 2025 No Comments

As you know I started ski journey when I met My Valentine. Skiing is his passion, and I wanted to tag along on the airline ski weeks. They sounded amazing. Therefore, in January of 2019 when I was the young age of 42, he took me to Steamboat Springs. One of the ladies in our group took me on the bunny hill to give me the basics, and I picked it up. I skied three days that week and it was tough! My legs were burning terribly, and as you more mature ladies know fear is a huge factor! I had been doing CrossFit for three years, and I couldn’t believe this was so hard. I didn’t understand. But I loved being on the mountain, and I enjoyed the people I was meeting.

I wanted to get some lessons because the better you are at skiing the more fun you have. In December 2019, we took Sweet Gram to Copper Mountain because we couldn’t find anyone to stay with her and she goes where we go. We decided to take her and the two friends we shared a condo with were extremely helpful in keeping an eye on her and giving her a banana or a mac and cheese snack throughout the day. She had a great time and loved seeing the snow. She would sit by the fire and stare out the window as she did in our hometown when it snowed. We still see people who remember her at Apres ski.

That year, I skied another week at Steamboat Springs. I was so excited that I could finally ski to a bar on the mountain that I wasn’t able to ski my first time there because the only runs down were hard blues and black diamonds (higher level). I was getting more comfortable on skis and tried to learn from anyone willing to teach me. Then Covid hit that March. In December, our normal ski week was canceled so we decided to create our own ski week with friends in Park City where we skied Deer Valley, Solitude, and Snowbird. I was able to make the trip because in October of 2020, we made the difficult decision to put Gram into assisted living. She had fallen too many times, and we felt keeping her at home was unsafe.

Even though ski weeks looked different than in the past we were still able to travel and get to different resorts that allowed me to continue my ski journey. Gram passed away in February 2021. I still miss her and her cute smiling self. And there are so many times I wish she was still here to enjoy all these adventures with us. She would absolutely love them and enjoy seeing the snow.

Life has been crazy since she left us because my husband and I believe in the philosophy of never being home LOL. I have since been able to join my love on all the airline ski weeks since then. Although we live in Florida, we average about 25 days of skiing a year. This has helped me go from the bunny hill to black diamonds. The harder runs still scare me to death but I love that I can keep up with the team and see the backcountry. In my short skiing career of six years, I have been to 23 resorts in five countries on three different continents! I still pinch myself and wonder if it’s real.

Although I never dreamed of being a skier, my dreams of seeing the world are coming true. And seeing the world from places that many people never even get to is amazing. I am not sure what percentage of the population gets to view the world from the tops of the mountains, but I imagine it’s not high. Some people have no desire to leave their hometown let alone climb or ride to various mountain peaks. But here I am living my dream and continuing my ski journey. As a kid, I remember writing out my bucket list. My goal was to get to all 50 states, all seven continents, and as many countries as possible. At almost 49, I have been to 44 states, 23 countries, and three continents. Excited to be living out my dreams, and I thank God and Gram every day that my journey led me into this exhausting life of being a Pilot’s Wife.

In Family

Beautiful Friendships

March 4, 2025 No Comments

Friendship. What does it mean to you? My Rock and I have amazing friends as I have stated time and time again. I am not sure why we are so lucky, but we are blessed with the best of friends from our childhood, college years, and adulthood. Even the new people we have met have become the best of friends. We are forever grateful for our amazing friendships.

I am not sure what friendship means to you or if you keep score in your friendships. I hope not. It doesn’t matter who called last or whose turn it is to visit. Just make it work. To me, it is a feeling I get as I meet and get to know people. Maybe I am different but when I make a bond with someone, I feel like it is forever. Even if I don’t talk, text, or communicate with that person on a daily, weekly, or even monthly basis, it is a bond that stands the test of time. I believe we all know that everyone’s lives are super busy. And as friendships grow we need to understand that circumstances change. We can’t expect that person to be there every minute of every day but what we can expect is that each person will make an effort to keep that friendship going in whatever way they can.

According to the Internet and Wikipedia, the following is the definition of friendship. Friendship is a hard concept to put into words and each relationship is like a snowflake…unique and different in its own special way.

“If you look in the dictionary it will tell you that the definition of friendship is a state of being friends; friendly relation, or attachment, to a person, or between persons; affection arising from mutual esteem and goodwill; friendliness; amity; goodwill. That all sounds nice, but it doesn’t cover the fact that a true friendship is a relationship that can survive the test of time and remain unconditional.”

“Friendship for most people is a combination of affection, loyalty, love, respect, and trust. The general traits of a friendship include similar interests, mutual respect, and an attachment to each other, and in order to experience friendship, you need to have true friends. The emotional safety provided by friendship means not having to weigh your thoughts and measure words. True friendship is when someone knows you better than yourself and takes a position in your best interests in a crisis. Friendship goes beyond just sharing time together, and it is long-lasting.”

As we continue on this journey we call life, we need to realize how important friendships are. In my single days, my friends were there to help fill the void of a significant other. I had friends I could count on to go to church with, to play sports with, and to go shopping with. As a single person, you do have to learn to do a lot of life on your own, but with good friends, some tasks can be made easier by sharing them with another human being.

When I met My Pilot, I didn’t know what I was getting into. I knew that I had the best of friends. I didn’t realize that he also had the best of friends. We both keep in touch with friends we have known since elementary school. We keep in touch with friends from college. We keep in touch with friends we met at ski weeks. We keep in touch with people all over the country and the world.

Sometimes it is overwhelming. Sometimes I need a break from all these friendships. Sometimes our social life is too much. But honestly, I wouldn’t have it any other way. I love that our friends understand that we may not remember all the life events or their kids’ life events or even names sometimes:) but we love them and will do our best. But when we get together, it will be like no time has passed. I love that we can call friends up at the last minute (and they can call us) and say hey we are coming to town. Are you around? And usually, we are welcome with open arms.

A little over a month ago, we had our Fifth Anniversary Party on New Year’s Eve. We had a weeklong party celebrating with friends from all walks of both of our lives. Sometimes people like to keep their friends separate, but My Love and I both don’t believe that at all. All of our friends are so awesome that they should meet each other and love each other like we love them.

What we found was true. Our friends truly had a wonderful time getting to know each other and spending time together. We even got a note from one of our single flight attendant friends and she said this:

“You attract amazing friends! That’s saying something as I don’t usually enjoy “all couple parties” but yours was absolutely AMAZING!”

We cannot be more appreciative of our beautiful friends. We love and cherish you and your friendships. Count your blessings if you have amazing friends and foster those relationships. If you don’t, then it’s time to let them go and make new amazing friends!

In Weekly Wednesday Words

Stop Waiting

January 8, 2025 No Comments

I saw this post on Facebook the other day and had to repost it on my blog. Sometimes I think we wait too long. We wait for someone to invite us to the party. We wait for someone to go with us to the concert. We wait for someone to make us happy. We need to stop waiting and make things happen for ourselves. Take the trip, go to the concert, explore the world alone, and create your own happiness.

Stop waiting. Travel solo, go to the concert alone, take yourself out to dinner, explore your own city. and stop waiting for other people to give you permission to do the things you want to do.

Photo by Stephen Harlan on Unsplash

In Travel Junkie

England

January 7, 2025 No Comments

A few months ago, My Prince had a three-day layover in England. He asked if I wanted to come over. Of course, I am a Yes, Woman so I said yes and made my way from Cleveland to London. Then I had to make my way to Cambridge via the train which was harder than I thought. I was so glad people there spoke English but with their heavy British accents it was hard to understand!

My flight landed before he did, so I had a few hours to work out, relax, and freshen up. When he and his crew arrived, we headed out to see a bit of the town and have a drink at the Eagle Bar, an aviation bar for the Royal Air Force. We found a table even though it was pretty crowded with the college “kids.”

We found out soon enough that Cambridge (although a college town) was not a party town. The bars and restaurants closed early. We were kicked out around midnight and had to find a bite to eat as the guys were starving after their flight.

We found a delicious Mediterranean place called Gardenia and got a kabob. Along the way, we passed the Corpus Clock, which is a cricket that keeps time by clicking. So pretty. We went back to the hotel to eat and have another beverage. The hotel, called “Hotel Graduate” is one of the cutest hotels I have stayed in. It had a nice bar and a lounging area with a fireplace where guests could hang out. If you are in the Cambridge area you need to check it out.

The next day My Valentine and I took the train to London. We had tickets to Buckingham Palace and wanted to see all the touristy sights. We walked around without much direction but stumbled upon the places we were supposed to see including Big Ben, Parliament, Hyde Park, the Borough Market, and Dishoom, an amazing Indian place for dinner.

Outside our hotel was a boat that was turned into a bar called Tamesis Dock, which was really fun. They had live music so we had a drink and listened for a bit. That night Ohio State was playing so we had to get back to the hotel to watch the game. It was a late night game in the United States and even later in London. Needless to say, I fell asleep about halftime.

The next day, we walked and walked. Our goal was to find a good brunch place and the London Bridge. We did both. After a few pics of the bridge and the infamous telephone booths, we meandered back towards the hotel hitting a few stops on the way.

By the time we got back to Cambridge, it was dark. The English delicacy of fish and chips was not appealing to us so we decided on Thai for dinner. We then hit a few local pubs, including The Pickerel Inn (debated as one of the oldest pubs in Cambridge 1608), and called it a night.

The next day I was on the train back to London to catch my flight to the United States. I flew standby and there was a long list of standby passengers. Many of them had been bumped the day before. I didn’t think I was going to make it but somehow, they called my name and I was on! Thank God. I didn’t want to spend the night at the airport in London by myself.

I love exploring different countries and cultures. I love that we can go to other countries and not have to rent a car; we can take a train and get anywhere we need to be. I also love how clean the trains and cities are.
We had a wonderful time in England. It is very pretty, and I love the old architecture. Walking by the river was amazing and all the bridges were beautiful. I definitely would like to go back and explore more.

In Family

Christmas Eve Wigilia

December 24, 2024 No Comments

Christmas Eve is when My Rock and I celebrate with my family. It has been a tradition since I was little to celebrate the Polish tradition of Wigilia on Christmas Eve. We always helped Gram, Our Matriarch make pierogies the day before. Then they would chill in the garage because it was always cold enough in northwest Pennsylvania to leave them there. Traditionally, we would make potato and sauerkraut, mushroom, and cottage cheese. Eventually, we started cheating a bit and added in cheddar cheese and bacon pierogies, even though you are not supposed to eat meat on Christmas Eve.

Our Wigilia dinner is supposed to have 12 dishes to symbolize the 12 apostles although I don’t remember eating 12 things. We always had cream of mushroom soup, haddock, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, corn, green bean casserole, and pie for dessert. But my memory may be fading so those dishes may have been on Christmas Day as well! We all loved Red Lobster, so at some point we added in shrimp scampi and even lobster tails for a few years.

Before we eat we go around to each person breaking the opłatek, which is a Christmas wafer to symbolize the gift of daily bread. We wish everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. Wikipedia also states “there is in places a belief that whatever happens on Wigilia affects the incoming year; if a quarrel should arise, it foretells a quarrelsome and troublesome year.” Let’s hope that everyone has a peaceful day and no quarrels arise.

I always remember on Christmas morning my sister and I would wake up super early and head downstairs, wide-eyed to see the beautiful tree and all the gifts from Santa. I love waking up to Christmas tree lights. It’s my absolute favorite. We couldn’t open gifts until Gram and Gramps got there, which usually didn’t take long as they were only two blocks away.

After our gifts, we would get dressed and head up to my grandparents. We would eat the traditional Polish breakfast of kielbasa and eggs. Then we would finally get to open gifts at Gram’s.

As I am sure most kids did, we played with toys, tried on new clothes, and celebrated with family. But we also went up to the Alliance College gym and jumped on the trampoline or played basketball. I was obsessed when I was little.

Since 2012 most of our Christmases have been in Virginia. My sister had given birth to my niece and I lived there as well. Dad had passed, therefore mom would drive my grandparents down to Virginia. After Christmas, they would continue to Fort Myers to Gram’s Condo.

Although we continue to celebrate in Virginia with the kids, life has changed. We no longer have my grandparents or my sister but we have a bonus family of my brother-in-law’s girlfriend and her three children. We celebrate Wigilia at my mom’s and then head to church. We finally get to open presents on Christmas Eve (which I always wanted to do!).

Whatever your holiday traditions are I hope you have a wonderful Christmas Eve and a Merry Christmas! I hope Santa is good to you this year.

In Travel Junkie

Ireland

September 17, 2024 No Comments

It appears we like to travel on my husband’s birthday. My Prince and I celebrated his 50th birthday in the Windy City five years ago. We had an amazing time exploring Chicago and enjoying a Cubs baseball game from a rooftop across from the stadium. We had a delicious steak dinner at The Chophouse, where My Heart proposed to me in front of about 40 of our closest friends and family. It was unforgettable. This year, we celebrated double nickels in Ireland with close friends and their Irish family. It was an Irish vacation unlike any other.

We flew into Dublin and discovered they have Ubers which are taxis you can get right from the airport. They speak English with a hefty Irish accent, but being surrounded by other English-speaking folks was nice. One major difference is they drive on the left-hand side of the road, which can take some getting used to, especially as a pedestrian. You definitely need to go back to your years of youth where your mom told you to look both ways before crossing the street.

My Valentine started an “old man” push-up challenge on March 1 with a goal of doing 100 push-ups on his 55th birthday. March first started with one push-up. Then two the next day. Then three and so on. We landed on June 6th therefore he had 98 pushups to do, and I had 98 lunges to do (issues with my neck and shoulder). We did them right there in the lobby of the Dublin Skylon because our room was not available yet. We washed up as best we could after our all-nighter and changed clothes before heading out and getting accustomed to the new time zone.

We walked around and got a bite to eat. Then headed to the Guinness Brewery for our tour. We made a few stops along the way, including the iconic Temple Bar to sightsee and have a beer. I never really wanted to try Guinness beer in the United States but I had to in Ireland. I think the dark color scared me but after the tour and some tastings, I decided I liked it. They also had an apple cider I liked a lot as well.

Dublin was great. It was a Thursday afternoon and everyone was in the bar singing along and happy. Live music was everywhere. It was a bit chilly and a little drizzly but still a great day.

Our friends picked us up at the Guinness brewery later that afternoon, and we went back to the hotel to check in and freshen up. We met across the street at a bar called the Ivy House for a beer and then walked to Fagan’s Pub. It was really cute and we had some great food. Little did we know, most beef in Ireland is raised there on the island and is of high quality, unlike “pub food” in the US. I expected to have a delicious reuben but they weren’t even on the menu. Crazy. But they had other Irish food to try. Afterward, we ended up at The Cobblestone. We randomly ran into another friend from ski weeks who happened to be in Dublin for the weekend. After a few shots and beers (as sweet Gram always wanted), we decided to call it a night.

The next day we had breakfast at Restaurant 104 and headed up to Drumkeeran which is about a two-hour drive. We went there because our friend’s grandfather was a famous flutist, and they have a music festival every year in his honor. We met a cousin of our dear friend Ellen and a few other distant relatives. Everyone in the town knew her grandfather’s story and was excited to have his American family in town to celebrate.

We spent two days in Drumkeeran in a beautiful lodge resort called the Drumhiery Woodland Hideaway. If you need a relaxing, peaceful getaway this is the place to go. It was beautiful. I wish we would have had more time there. It would have been the perfect place to sit out by the fire, listen to nature, and enjoy each other’s company.

We hit all four of the pubs that are in Drumkeeran (a couple of times) and the one restaurant called Laura’s Cafe. We celebrated Jeff’s birthday with baby Guinness shots at midnight on Friday and then with a cake the next day at the family home. We had breakfast at the Drumshambo Gin Distillery which was beautiful and delicious. The festival was great. We listened to a lot of fun Irish music. Instead of having a stage, musicians sit in the corner of the bar and have what they call “a session”. Anyone can join the band, and they play songs everyone knows. The talent of the young children and families was astonishing. It made me wish my family had a few more Polish traditions especially those that involved music or playing instruments.

We then returned to Dublin where my hubby and I continued our tour around Dublin. We stayed at the Wren Urban Nest, which was a cute boutique hotel. The room was pretty tiny but it was really nice and the staff was friendly. Even though it was raining, we explored some more of Dublin. We had to see more of the pubs including The Brazen Head (Ireland’s oldest pub est 1198), The Norseman, and the Temple Bar again. We also picked up a few souvenirs.

Overall, we had an amazing time in Ireland. It was so green because of all the rain. We will most likely go back to check out some castles and the Irish coastline. I believe there is much more to do and see in Ireland and I don’t want to miss it! And yes, Jeff did finish his “challenge” and completed 99 pushups on the 7th and 100 pushups on his 55th birthday (for a total of 5050 for the 100 previous days).