All about Vivian & Shane from VivShaneAdventures

Thank you sooo much for taking the time to visit our website. We really appreciate your interest in our blog and your desire to learn more regarding van camping, timeshares & inexpensive travel. This section is all about Vivian & Shane from VivShaneAdventures. We’ll give you some details of our background.

A big HELLO to you!

This website was designed to keep you up to date on our life’s travels, our current sloooow journey around the world and help you do the same thing. We hope you’ll find it interesting, entertaining and maybe get you thinking about a life untethered to a specific geographic location, office or lifestyle. Be sure to check out Resources to get some helpful info or Destinations to learn about some of the countries we visited.

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed

by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do.

So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor.

Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”

Good advice from Mark Twain, 19th century American writer, humorist & lecturer

Shane  was raised in historic Massachusetts. After receiving a BA & MPA and working in government leadership roles, he realized travel was compelling him and completely changed his life’s direction. In the mid-70s he took a 2-year trip zig-zagging for the first year across most USA states in a home-converted Dodge van, living for a few months in Wyoming, selling the van in California, and flying west to live for the second year on the beaches of 6 Hawaiian islands.

Returning to the US Shane lived in Miami, Florida, became a massage therapist and wrote a best-selling book. He then moved to San Diego, California where he founded & expanded a 7-store chain in southern California which became the world largest retailer of massage products & supplies with treatment centers attached. Hiring & training excellent store managers to take care of biz while he was exploring allowed Shane to continue his travels around the world.

2000 – 2004  The Long Distance Courting Years

We laid eyes on each other in the year 2000. Four years of cross-Pacific Ocean courting entailed Shane’s many trips from San Diego to the Philippines. Vivian lived in Metro Manila so we explored all its many historical & scenic sights then took several island adventures.

Since Shane was huge into diving, many trips were to beach resorts, including our favorite, the truly beautiful, talcum-powder, white-sand island of Boracay. It was there Shane received his Nitrox diving certification to add to his PADI cert. Another highlight was the Anilao beaches in Batangas, Luzon which have crystal clear water, perfect for diving & snorkeling.

We finally married in 2004 in the USA and settled in the sleepy California beach town of Leucadia, 30 minutes north of San Diego. We lived in a second-floor apartment with a 180-degree view of Pacific Ocean whitewater. Introducing Vivian to the wonders of the huge & diverse United States and other countries became our passionate endeavor. We knew immediately that travel would become the centerpiece of our marriage which filled our dance cards with wonder and joy.

2004-2008 The Early Marriage Travel Trip

Shane’s Bodywork Emporium 7 stores were located up & down the southern California coast from San Diego up to Santa Barbara. We traveled quite a bit to all the delightful beach towns in between. Traveling further we took camping trips in our pop-top Dodge Sportsmobile conversion van throughout all the magnificent southwest USA.

We were also fortunate to take overseas trips to Hawaii, Puerto Rico, Mexico, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Egypt & 3 trips back to the Philippines. Those years were rounded out with cruises to Alaska, Greece, and scores of Caribbean Islands. Looking back, those were excellent years of travel.

2008-2011 Early Retirement Travel

In late 2008 Shane sold his chain of stores and took an early retirement. This afforded us more time for van camping, timeshare forays and longer overseas trips. The highlights were fascinating voyages to Rome, Spain & Andorra. We plan on going back to Rome and more of Italy for an extended stay.

We also enjoyed return trips to our faves of New Zealand, Australia and the Philippines. In PI we went back to our preferred island, Palawan, “The Last Frontier of the Philippines”.

2011-2016 Caregiving Years

In mid 2011 we moved to Shane’s mom’s house in San Diego to assume major caretaking responsibilities. “Grandma” was in her late 80’s and exhibiting increasing signs of failing health and vascular dementia. It was a challenging chapter in our lives but done in the spirit of love and sacrifice. Vivian’s nursing background was a huge help.

However, true to our nature & yearnings, we did manage to find some additional assistance to take time off for fabulous van camping trips and timeshare stays to some glorious, western states’ classics, including a robust 2+ month, circular van camping trip all the way to Montana & back.

Another highlight was a memorable autumn circle tour of most New England states, the fabulous Canadian cities of Quebec City, Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto & Niagara Falls, New York and across rural western Massachusetts.

January 2017 Our Slooow Trip Around the World Begun

In late 2016 Grandma peacefully passed away in our hospice-converted living room at the ripe old age of 92. We decided it was now the perfect time to take the trip of a lifetime: an endless slooow trip around the world. Yahoooooo!!! We hope you enjoyed learning all about Vivian & Shane from VivShaneAdventures. These adventures can be followed in the subsequent sections or our Facebook Page.