About the Beery Traveler

I’m the guy behind this travel blog, though “behind” makes it sound way more organized than it actually is. Truth is, I’m just one half of a fun-loving, adventurous couple who decided retirement meant “travel more, worry less, drink better beer.”

The better half? That’s Tina – also known as “the boss,” “the wife,” “She Who Must Be Obeyed,” and occasionally “the one who actually knows where we’re going.” While I handle the storytelling, marketing strategy, and IT headaches for our travel business, she’s the one doing the real work: actually selling travel and making sure our clients don’t end up lost in some Albanian back alley.

Together, we run Boarding Pass Travel, where we work as professional travel advisors helping people plan trips that don’t fall apart the moment they leave the airport. And yes, we actually know what we’re talking about—we’ve made enough travel mistakes ourselves that we can now help you avoid them.

How in Hell Did I Get Here?

Being a travel advisor comes with its share of trials and tribulations, but the perks are pretty damn good. One of those perks? The amount of travel you become accustomed to. Someone’s gotta visit those resorts, test those restaurants, and evaluate those tours. It’s a tough job, but somebody has to sit at that swim-up bar and take notes about the beer selection.

During one particularly grueling day of resort site visits (yes, that’s actually work), I offhandedly remarked to Tina that I should start a travel blog. You know, document the absurdity. Share the stories. Maybe help other travelers avoid the timeshare presentations that somehow always turn into 4-hour hostage situations.

The wife, of course, thought it was brilliant. “You could integrate our ratings!” she said. “Get clients following along!” And just like that, The Beery Traveler was born.

Since then, this travel blog has undergone a couple of changes, stuttered to a dead stop during (and after) COVID, and was most recently resurrected after a digital disaster that saw us lose years of travel stories. But we’re back, we’re writing, and we’re not going anywhere.