Retracing The Travel Bug, Back in the Day - Time Out #334

Travel has always been deeply imbedded in my DNA.

Realistically, as a youth, my father, Col. C.H. Breedlove, took me to many places he traveled, and we visited lots of places! Heck, he even took me with him to Hawaii, Canada, and Mexico, in addition to all over the continental U.S.A. Early on, I loved to experience new places, and learn how other people lived and interacted. Traveling provided me a wonderful, early-life education.

Fast forward a couple of decades to the early 1980's, when my bride and I were in the Hawaiian Island chain, specifically the "Valley Isle", Maui. We were driving our rental car down Kihei Road, beside the blue Pacific Ocean, and noticed a street sign advertising time share sales. Fast forward again, and my bride, Lady Deborah, and I had purchased 5 weeks of interval ownerships over the years (time shares). We owned 3 weeks in Kihei, Maui, HI,, and 2 weeks in Jackson, WY,. Because we owned these properties for many years, our 5-member family traveled often; our children saw many parts of Our Country. Debbie and I often used the important trading advantages of our time share's affiliation with Resorts Condominium International (RCI). Under this important provision, for a fee, an RCI member may swap (trade) his/her week(s) for an interval at a different affiliated property, available all over the globe. And, trading we did, year after year after year, as we filled our travel needs.

Many of our family trips, we enjoyed, visiting Debbie's family in San Diego County, far southern California. This large county has many trading choices, and we took advantage of various available properties. Our choices would range in size from simple studios to large 3-bedroom places. Other frequently visited locations we stayed included the Orlando, FL, area, Branson, MO, and assorted destinations along the eastern U.S. coastline, bordering the Atlantic Ocean. Often, we would allow our school-age children to invite friend(s) as our guests to our family outings, so more people could participate in our vacation experiences. Years later, we remember these great times, full of laughter, incredible sites, great restaurant food, and meaningful people-to-people interactions in lots of distant locations. We also documented our many time share travels, always taking lots of photographs. I would like to tell you these thousands of pictures are well-organized in Our Home, but that would not be true. Oh, well, that is an future project to undertake?

The reality is, children grow up, leave their homes, and their parents become empty-nesters. That certainly occurred under our roof, more than 15 years ago. Therefore, using our long-owned time shares slowly reduced from our normal traveling calendars. We simply could not find a need to regularly use them. Ms. Debbie and I did travel to a few select locations over the globe, but most of our travel days were filled with ocean/river cruise boat adventures. So, we eliminated our time shares, either selling or gifting them. My bride and I have not owned a time share in several years.

In summary, for almost 40 years, time shares provided a valuable way for the Breedloves to feed our travel needs. For our family, it provided an easy way to experience the world outside Our Town. This vacation style served as one of our principle ways of seeing and experiencing different and exciting/educational places. Time shares filled an important slot in our traveling adventures.