Welcome to Paul & Libby’s World of Travel!
For us, travel is like a drug. Each trip (pun intended) makes us yearn for the next.
If you’re interested, here’s a list of places we’ve been.
Likewise, here’s a list of our next scheduled / planned trips.
Paul & Libby’s 157×50 Project
The 157×50 Project is a list of three travel goals to achieve by age 50 (2026):
1. Travel to all 50 states in the USA.
2. Travel to all 7 continents.
3. Travel to at least 100 countries.
We have a set of rules (what’s a “country,” what constitutes a “visit,” etc.).
Rule #1 is most important: a destination doesn’t count unless we’ve traveled there together. This means that business trips, childhood vacations, or independent adventures with parents or friends don’t count toward the goal… even if we’ve both been to the destination separately (such as Switzerland, to cite an example).
I should also note that we’re neither ultra-rich jetsetters nor backpacking vagabonds (not that there’s anything wrong with either). We have professional careers and spend much of our remaining time with our daughter, Emerson. We travel the world with the limited vacation time typical of a middle-class American lifestyle. In some ways, I think that’s the only thing that makes this project somewhat unique. We’re accomplished in being ordinary. We’re proof that you don’t have to win millions of dollars in the lottery or halt your career and subsist on $10/day in order to “see the world.” What’s more, we believe it’s a bad strategy to “wait until retirement” to travel (or pursue any other goal in life for that matter). All too often, the “Golden Years” turn out to be made of pyrite—the result of financial setbacks, failing health, or both. Hopefully, we’ll inspire someone else to pursue their dream—now!
About the name — inspiration for the “157x50” name came from the Jen Bekman 20×200 Project for selling high-quality, yet affordable art. Why? I like the name. And, I love (and collect) the art.
Paul as “Travel Blogger”
In 2008, I created my first travel blog (Europe by Sea 2008) for our annual pilgrimage to London and subsequent 14-day cruise of the Western Mediterranean. I followed that up with another blog dedicated to our next “major” vacation (Eastern Mediterranean 2009), which happened to be another cruise.
In both cases, I wrote on a daily basis to inform friends and family about our journey. During their brief lifespan, I developed a fairly loyal following, especially among fellow cruisers. In fact, both blogs continue to have a decent and deep readership (Google Analytics tells me that on average I have a few visitors per day, who surf these blogs for about 15-20 minutes per visit).
Most importantly, I learned that I love writing about travel.
To borrow a rather trite expression, I’m now going to “take it to the next level” with this permanent blog dedicated (primarily) to planning, chronicling, and reflecting upon our 157×50 Project. In addition, I also intend to write about my business travel experiences (extensive), offer some idiosyncratic travel tips (hopefully helpful), discuss our philosophy of travel (an intellectually interesting activity), and perhaps ruminate on matters of life in general (it is our blog after all).
I invite comments, feedback, and suggestions from all.
Dear paul,
First I love your blog and your energy to do all this with your little girl. It is so inspiring….
I read by coincidence your blog when you visited the Royal Academy in London and your kind words regarding my work.
Please give me your posting address so i can send you a card with ‘Homage to Boetti’ on it so you can keep it as a souvenir.
Good luck for the rest of this life journey.Kind regards,
Brigitte