David Westen of Nashua, NH

2023

In January, I went with Mary Lou, one of my oldest friends, to Buenos Aires and Antarctica.
In April, Vilma flew from Manila to Boston. Then, after a week in New England, we flew to Munich and spent 15 days traveling by train in Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Belgium, and the Netherlands.
With this, I have been to 6 of the 7 continents of the world since October of last year. I plan to visit #7, Africa, in May of 2024.
I spent most of June and the first week of July in Brazil. Most of that time was in Porangatu, a town in which I lived 23 years ago. I enjoyed my time there immensely.
Albino, a Brazilian friend who have know for about 25 years, visited me the first week of August. We spent almost a week in in Honolulu with a short stop in San Francisco. I found Honolulu more reasonably priced (although not inexpensive) than it was last time I was there.

2022

I had a brief vacation in Fairbanks, Alaska in February.
I spent over a month with Vilma in the Philippines in March and April. We spent my birthday in the beach resort of Boracay.
After a long delay due to COVID-19, Vilma and I were able to cruise together in June and July. We met in Barcelona and cruised on the Celebrity Beyond along the French and Italian Riviera.

2021

I traveled extensively in 2021. I took 6 cruises:

St. Maarten, Aruba, Curacão, Barbados
Seattle/Alaska
Ft. Lauderdale, Honduras, Mexico, & Nassau
California Coast
San Diego to Mexico, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Columbia & Fort Lauderdale via the Panama Canal
Ft. Lauderdale, St. Croix, Antigua, Barbados, St. Lucia, Grenada, Dominica, and St. Kitts & Nevis

2020

The highlights from this year are:

a trip to the waters off Antarctica in January
I took my girls to Seville, Spain in February to visit their mother's tomb.

COVID-19 has put an end to most of the other activities I had planned. I am using my time to study Android development, Python, and website development.

2019

My mother passed away on July 16th in Claremont, California. She was 92 years old. She often commented to me about how lucky she was and about what a wonderful life she had had. She was a wonderful mother and a wonderful influence on my life.
It is with some regret that I sold my mother's house in December. I really liked where she lived and I know she hoped I would keep the house but after some serious reflection, I decided against living there. I am now retired. The cost and aggravation of maintaining a home, the high sales and income taxes, and ever-present threat of earthquakes persuaded me that I should stay in New Hampshire for the time being.
I went to the Philippines in December. Since then, I have been dating Vilma, an accountant who works for the Manila department of permits.

2018

I moved to Nashua, NH on October 20th.
I spent most of December in South America with my adopted daughters, Jessyka & Emily. We took a cruise from Buenos Aires to Uruguay to the tip of South America and back.

2016

Last year I was in Brazil on business 4 times.
Angela and I went to London, Hong Kong, Macau, and Vietnam in July and August of 2015.
My sister, Beverly, was hit by a pickup truck in November 2015 and killed. What irony! She had really turned her life around. I miss her.
My mother (who is almost 89) should not live alone. As a result, I am spending close to 50% of my time in California. It is mid-April when I write this. I have already been there twice this year.
Angela's business continues to grow. For the second time in the past 3 years, she was nominated as immigrant businesswoman of the year.
Angela and I will vacation this year in London, India, Nepal, and Bhutan.