Celebrating Birthdays with Travel

This month is my birthday and in my immediate circle of family and friends, there are many more in May as well, more than in any other month of the year. In the travel industry, this month is considered one of the best months for vacationing. It is shoulder season, and therefore it will not be so crowded at many destinations. Normally, there are more travel deals, including lower rates for flights and hotels. In many areas of the world, the weather is pleasantly springtime. In countries like South Africa where their winter is our summer, it is fall and an ideal time for safari. Over my lifetime, I have traveled a lot at this time of the year and taken advantage of all the specials. Many feel obliged to give a birthday party for the occasion. Probably fun, but short-lived, considering the organization, expenses, and clean-up afterwards, and perhaps even a headache the next morning.

In South Africa, I had the entire staff at a safari lodge sing Happy Birthday to me and surprise me with a huge chocolate cake. I should have realized that something was up when all the staff came out and were giggling as they waited anxiously for me to cut the cake.

Instead, I was concentrating on trying to cut the cake neatly, which was impossible because under the chocolate frosting was a huge, hard, hard-packed elephant dung. I flew on my birthday into an African airstrip where the pilot had to make a low fly over the strip to send an elephant and birds off. I was talked into swimming in the black waters of the Amazon River in Peru on my birthday, although I had been photographing piranhas earlier that same day in a nearby part of the river. Enjoying a birthday drink on a beach in Turkey, we were confronted with a sign leaving us in hysterics. “Do not breathe under the water.” I was also fortunate enough to encounter an elephant that was agreeable enough to walk with me in celebration of my birthday. And in Russia, I swam in a lake to cool off on my birthday because the area was plagued by record heat, and only found out later that these waters were said to be radioactive. Several of my birthdays have been celebrated in Greece, and on one of those visits, we were unexpectedly serenaded with a marching band and songs. The performance was not originally planned for me, but turned into a personal serenade when they discovered it was my birthday. And my last birthday was celebrated with a very special flaming dessert, also in Greece.

Back in the days of the pyramids and pharaohs, birthdays were already a reason for grand celebrations, much like coronations, and today’s birthday parties called” haflas” are much the same. In Australia, they make “fairy bread” for the birthday person. It consists of a thick slice of bread with butter and sprinkled pieces of candy. Something they originally brought over from my native country, the Netherlands.

There this simple treat is a daily breakfast favorite throughout the country. For the special day, the Dutch sing a version of Happy Birthday – often in English – but ending with “Hiep Hiep Hoera!”

In two countries, Russia and Brazil, some people think it is fun to pull your ear for every year of your age – that would not be fun at my age - and in most of the Caribbean countries, dowsing you from head to toe in flour is common. No wonder people travel to get away from the celebratory parties.

As I was born in the middle of May, my zodiac sign is Taurus, and yes, I am stubborn, but according to my sign, I prefer to put the accent on the positives, patience, and an appreciation of finer things. My birthstone is the emerald, and I stopped by the well-known jeweler, Harbor Goldsmith, here on Marco Island. Lindsay Ellen, daughter of Richard Alan, the Master Jeweler, had bought herself a beautiful 4.12 carat emerald and diamond ring, and I was curious. It was not a gift to herself for her birthday, but a reward for a more unusual celebration: her divorce was final! (See “The Jeweler’s Daughter,” Coastal Breeze News, June 20, 2024). She took it off her ring finger and said to “take it wherever you want for a better view.” An offer I was not going to take literally as I carefully carried it to a better spot to photograph while not going too far away. It is indeed vibrantly green and sparkly. Lindsay explained that it was not her birthstone, but she loved the exceptional depth and color.

A stone to celebrate your divorce is an unusual move, but not surprising in Lindsay’s case if you read the entertaining column she writes and shares with her father (All That Glitters) in the Coastal Breeze News.

Another place to view my birthday stone is in Mel Fisher’s Museum in Key West. Here, there is a large collection of emeralds, rough stones, and magnificently created emerald jewelry recovered from the sunken Spanish galleon “Atocha.” According to the ship's log, seventy-five pounds of emeralds had been packed on board. Only six pounds of them were recovered from the shipwreck, including the famous 12.72 carats (after the cut) “Atocha Star Emerald.” The emerald is referred to as the “Stone of Successful Love,” attributed to Melody, with degrees in science and mathematics, and the author of “A Kaleidoscope of Crystals.”

I had less luck finding my birthday flower, Lily of the Valley (Convallaria majalis), as we live too far south for them to grow here in Southwest Florida. I do remember many a birthday while I was living in the Netherlands with this precious bell-shaped, tiny, delicate white flowers hanging in a vertical clump of five to ten flowers on a stem in a background of small bright green leaves. It is so dainty, but most people don’t realize that this lovely flower with such a sweet scent and fragile structure has a dangerous secret.

This innocent flower carries potent poison that, when ingested, can land you in the hospital with serious heart issues. Eating any part of the flower, leaves, and stems can cause severe illness and, in some cases, even death.

Earlier birthdays were somewhat scary as I often was prone to accidents on my special day. I have no idea how it was possible, but I was hit by the boom of an old-fashioned railway crossing. Another birthday, I stepped off the sidewalk and got hit by a car, and while in the military, I suffered a head injury on my birthday tripping off a concrete plateau. Living in Madrid, Spain, I had my ruptured appendix taken out as an emergency on my birthday. Between 1969 and 2008, the Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine in Zurich, Switzerland, did a study on 2.4 million people. They came to the startling conclusion that many people die on their birthday. At an older age, that number increases when as many as 18% aged sixty years or older died on their birthday. Two well-known examples were Ingrid Bergman and William Shakespeare. The institute has not been able to explain this phenomenon except suggesting extra nervousness and stress during that day. So be forewarned to relax on your birthday and take it easy.

And since May 7th, if you are flying anywhere, do remember that for domestic travel, you need a driver’s license with “Real ID” indicated by the star in the top right corner on the license.

Internationally, you need a passport. No doubt you have read about the future visa requirements if traveling to one of the European Union countries.

As explained in my previous Travel Columns, you do not have to worry about it this year, as the issue has now been postponed to 2026. However, please note that if you travel in transit with a change of aircraft in a Schengen country – European Common Market - your passport needs to be valid for at least three months, even if your final destination only requires a valid passport.