The Reluctant Traveler is a true travel story about the trials and tribulations of an average Canadian couple vacationing in Peru, South America. It is written in a day by day diary format.
The reader who has traveled to Peru will no doubt relive their journey however in a much different way or possibly not and to the arm chair reader, they will live each day as the author did, trying to enjoy a holiday in a country with few modern conveniences, unbearable heat and huge insects.
The Reluctant Traveler is sure to amuse and entertain its readers.
Lori Guretzki was born in Saskatchewan in 1946, the youngest of four children. In 1949 the family moved to Calgary, Alberta where she lived until 1974.
Lori moved to British Columbia where she currently lives with her husband of 23 years. Lori’s husband is a recent published writer.
Lori works full time as an Administrative Assistant in a large, very busy high school and also runs a home based business called Lori’s Canine Creations.
She and her husband have traveled to all parts of the world and still travel. Lori has written diaries about most of their trips. The Reluctant Traveler is the first diary to be published but hopefully not the last.
The day finally arrived! I was excited, I was scared to death, and I wanted to stay home! The one hour trip to the Vancouver Airport seemed to take just minutes. We unloaded our luggage at the departure level and there was no way I could back out now.
We joined the long line of people waiting at the Air Canada Ticket counter. Wow! Are this many people traveling to Peru? Maybe Peru is a popular vacation site after all! Actually the first part of our trip would take us to Toronto. All these people were only going as far as Toronto!
I’m sure if we were traveling to Hawaii, the Ticket Agent would take her time checking our luggage and processing our tickets, but isn’t it funny when you’re not in a hurry, the waiting time seems very short! Finally, with boarding passes in hand we made our way to the Departure Lounge.
The Lounge is packed with teenagers and frazzled looking mothers, all standing around waiting to board our plane. I overheard a couple of kids talking about a figure skating competition in Vancouver. They were now on their way home. From looking around the crowd, it is easy to see that the chaperones have had more than their fill of kids for one weekend.
It is time to board the aircraft. We found our assigned seats with no problem. I fastened my seat belt as tight as I could, I would not be moving out of my seat until the plane lands in Toronto. I looked around at the other passengers. Why aren’t they in a hurry to sit down? Everyone should be sitting down shouldn’t they? The noise level is unbearable. The Stewardess is standing at the front of the plane and she is starting her briefing on the safety of the aircraft, where the exits are located and where the air sick bags are (that could be important). I hoped I wouldn’t need any of this information because I can’t hear any of it. I guess teenagers don’t need this information; they think they are indestructible.