After a whirlwind 2025 for me (selling house in one state; moving to another state to live with a longtime travel friend who is also widowed; traveling on back-to-back 4-week cruises; speaking on cruises in the Mediterranean followed by a week in Portugal; taking a 7-week South Pacific cruise, plus a Yuletide Markets cruise in Europe), 2026 is starting out on a bit of a slow note. But it won’t be that way for long — roughly 26 weeks are already booked for various travels around the globe. There are already at least 20+ weeks also booked for 2027!! It sounds crazy to some, I know. But I also know there are some who want to go to the same places I am going — if that is you, HERE is where you can find out some of my upcoming travels.
Many people make their New Year’s Resolutions late in December, and then see them broken come mid-January. There will be no Resolutions for me — just things I want to do in 2026. Many are easy; some take more focus and forethought.
Perhaps you might even want to try one yourself.
> Practice RANDOM ACT OF KINDNESS (RAOK) every day. Some people might call this “Paying it Forward,” but I view that as more of a financial activity. While there is absolutely nothing wrong with that, you can do many RAOKs without spending a cent (not that those are being made in the U.S. any more).
What are some RAOK examples?
>>> Open the door for someone you don’t know — at a store, the bank, even going to buy your lottery ticket. You don’t even have to be going inside yourself. Opening that door takes about 10 seconds out of your day, but it just might be the one thing that gives the other person a better outlook for the day.
>>> If you are behind an angry customer who is taking it out on the teller or clerk, walk slowly to that employee when it is your turn. Smile, and say something like, “That person was clearly having a bad day; I’m sorry it was taken out on you.”
>>> Allow another driver to enter your lane even though you have the right of way. That driver might be heading to a hospital, or is late for work, or just might not be paying attention. You don’t know what is going on, but offering some courtesy costs you nothing. So why not?
>>> Do you have an RAOK or two that you want to share? Send me an email, and I’ll share it with others. Thanks!
> Eat better.
>>> Yes, we all say that, and some are better at doing it than others. I fall into the “others” category. But I do have some incentive.
>>> My travel partner (and roommate) has shown me the benefit of eating fewer grams of carbohydrates. Less sugar is a nice side effect of eating that way. All of that results in some weight loss. I am not “overweight,” per se. But I know that I felt a lot better years ago when I was about 12-15 pounds lighter than I am now. Of course, I am also years older than then (and I completed another trip around the sun two days ago!).
>>> Part of “eating better” is when we properly plan, shop, and make our own healthy meals. We are not going to be fanatical about this, but with all our travels, there are many times when “better food options” are not abundant. I have made a simple meal planning table that we use to review what we have on hand, and what we want to eat for the week. Then, when we go grocery shopping, we buy only those items. No spontaneous purchases — that can be hard for me.
> Learn to be a better cook.
>>> We like to watch cooking shows. We even binge-watched a certain series season before we left for a 7-week cruise last year. It does get frustrating when we are caught up on a show, and we have to wait another week for the next program. But we have learned a few things about cooking.
>>> Part of becoming a better cook is to post articles about prepping, cooking, and enjoying meals. I don’t want to be as obsessive as Julie Powell in “Julie and Julia,” but she set a goal and stuck with it. I am not looking to become a cookbook author — I already have over a dozen published books. But writing about my cooking experiences will force me (at least I hope so) to be more methodical and intentional in what I am doing and how I am doing it.
>>> Another part of being a better cook (I will never be considered a “chef”) is to learn and use better practices. We have ordered a “cookery course” book from a famed international chef, and we hope to slowly work our way through it. In watching the TV series on the same subject, I learned to “let the knife do the work.” In other words, don’t force the cutting with your hand/arm — use the sharp edge of the proper knife to do the real work. I tried that today while cutting meats and vegetables — it felt freeing, and it was easy to do!
> Help other travelers.
>>> One thing that I can say with total honesty is that I have always tried to offer any help to travelers, even those I do not know. I have always felt that the more that others know about travel will come back to benefit me as one of those travelers. I want to keep that going in 2026 [and beyond].
>>> While I am an independent travel advisor at www.travel.stuartgustafson.com, I do not go out of my way to promote the business. Why not? I do not want to work full time. I am happy to help family, friends, and a select few others, but any more than that takes away from my own time of travel, cooking, and fun.
>>> I have many travel tips that I have accumulated over my many years of international travel, and since becoming America’s International Travel Expert® in 2011. I working on assembling those into several formats: a TED talk; a series of weekly offerings; a free-standing book; a DVD with accompany text file(s). Do any of those interest you? Send me an email with how you’d like those tips.
> Be consistent in my writings.
>>> All of the items above are great, or at least can be great when they are done, and are done on a regular basis. Even though I have been retired for 18+ years, I still manage to stay busy. Part of that might be my upbringing where it was instilled in me to be productive in whatever I did. The bad side of staying busy is that I don’t always get to doing what I SHOULD be doing. I need to change that.
>>> I have attended many webinars, coaching programs, etc., where the concept (and implementation!) of consistent output is said to be paramount. Consistent output creates faithful readers who know they will be getting valuable information on a regular basis. While I would like to commit to a twice- or thrice-weekly blog posting, I will start with a once-a-week commitment and then try to up it as my habits develop.
>>> Given the natural connection between food and travel, most of my posts will contain elements of each topic. I hope you approve!
Welcome to 2026!!!
Happy Travels!
Stuart
Stuart Gustafson is America’s International Travel Expert® who speaks on cruise ships, writes novels, and loves everything about travel. Visit his website at www.stuartgustafson.com. Stay in contact with his travels, his food journeys, and even his books by signing up for his newsletter that he usually publishes once a week — a little more often at times:
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