John Greet

I grew up in London and spent many holidays camping around Europe. Wishing to be proficient in another language, I then moved to Paris for work. During ten years in Paris I traveled extensively, mainly for business, including Europe, North and West Africa. I had also visited my sister in Australia.

A late-night conversation in a Paris bar resulted in my buying a 38-foot yacht with a friend to sail from France to Australia. At that time my yachting experience was very basic, but the addition of three experienced sailor friends for the trans-Atlantic crossing allayed my concerns. The two of us subsequently sailed the Caribbean from the Virgin Islands in the north to Grenada in the south, then onto Venezuela and Curacao. We picked up hitchhikers on the way moving from island to island. Our plans changed before reaching the Panama Canal. Our decision to sell the yacht took us back across the Caribbean Sea, visiting the Turks and Caicos and Bahamas on our way north to Annapolis, Maryland. There I met Susan, on a yacht of course!

The travelling continued even if interspersed with work! As a couple we have lived in the US in Annapolis and Boulder Colorado. We also lived in Paris, taking the opportunity to further explore Europe. We visited close friends in Venezuela, touring the Amazon region and renting a small plane to view Angel Falls up close, amazing!

It seems as if I have always been travelling. So why stop now, especially in retirement. The excitement of new places and new people never fades.

Susan Greet

Born and raised in South Dakota, the urge to travel started early in my life. Always yearning for a way to explore new places and meet new people I seriously considered joining the airlines to become a flight attendant. The only thing standing in my way was my fear of flying. Ooops! Fortunately, common sense prevailed and I nixed that idea. I’ve since overcome this fear but only after many white knuckled flights.

Coming from one of the 27 US states that doesn’t border an ocean it was to my amusement my first job outside of South Dakota was working for a yacht charter company. Having never sailed and with most of my boating done on small lakes it didn’t deter me from climbing aboard 46’ yachts to cruise the ocean. Spending time exploring the Caribbean and bobbing around the Chesapeake Bay continued to feed my travel hunger.

I’ve always wondered why the desire to travel was silently urging me on. It’s not like my parents were world travelers. My father owned a passport and it was never used. Perhaps he also had the silent urge to travel someday.

As luck would have it I met my husband while working for that yacht charter company. He is British, and fortunately has the same passion to travel. We’ve crisscrossed the globe, floated down the Orinoco River in the Amazon region, and lived together in Europe.

After 32 years together, we continue to feed our passion to discover new places through a lifestyle of travel and house sitting.