WORLD TRAVELER

By LISA LOSASSO BELL

90-year-old Boardman man bitten by the travel bug

Gordon Mitchell has visited 197 countries.

If you don’t run, you rust.

With this in mind, it doesn’t look as if 90 year-old Gordon Mitchell of Boardman plans on slowing down any time soon.

In March of 2003, the AAA Bulletin featured Mitchell, who has been to 197 countries.

After his retirement from Republic Steel’s Manufacturing Division/Industrial Relations in 1975, Mitchell and his wife began traveling.

According to Mitchell, their first trip was a 14-day train tour from Toronto to Vancouver and back.

“I had the love for travel,” he said. “She had a hard time flying at first but then grew to like it.”

“She also was not a swimmer,” said Mitchell. “So it took a bit of doing to get her on a ship. She really got to enjoy that style of life.”

That’s when they were bitten by the travel bug and decided to take a 14-day Caribbean Cruise the following year.

Over the next several years, prior to his wife’s death in 1985, they took many more trips, including a six-day cruise on the Mississippi River; a 30-day cruise from Los Angeles to Sydney, Australia; an air tour in Tokyo; and a 12-day Alaskan cruise.

Mitchell did not start traveling again until 1998. “It’s been just a maze of trips,” he said. “You name it ... I’ve been there.”

Mitchell’s first trip alone was a seven-day trip to Switzerland.

“It was one of the places I wanted to go first,” said Mitchell.

Because of his love for Aruba, Mitchell has made several trips back. Another favorite has been Australia, to which he returned for a 14-day trip. “I was on 11 flights in 14 days,” said Gordon. “That’s a big place to travel around.”

In 1998, Mitchell took a 12-day Hawaiian vacation. He then learned about the French Riviera and arranged for a 16-day trip.

After scheduling vacations for Mitchell for many years, AAA introduced him to world cruising, and then he was off on a 96-day world cruise on The Rotterdam which began in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, traveling down the coast of South America and into Antarctica, visiting 25 countries in one trip.

Mitchell enjoys meeting other travelers as well as natives of the countries he visits.

“People in most of these places are used to people coming in on cruise lines. They’re always very hospitable,” he said.

Once he arrives at a port, Mitchell enjoys taking side trips. “I separate from the ship and pick it back up,” he said. “Some places they stay for two days so you just go and come back. I took a safari in Kenya so I could see the animals.”

Mitchell enjoys shopping in Hong Kong because they like to barter.

“You just don’t do things by yourself,” he said. “I always travel in a guided tour.”

According to Mitchell, he has visited a Zulu Indian Village and the Aborigines of Australia; he went parasailing in Aruba just last year. He has been to Machu Picchu, Easter Island.

He has fed reindeer in Lapland where he also visited a Husky farm; flown over the Valley of the Kings in Egypt, and taken a cruise down the Nile River. He has seen the Terra Cotta Soldiers in China and has ridden in a rickshaw in Da Nang, Vietnam; has taken a canopy tour on the Congo Trail in Guanacaste, Costa Rica and has albums full of memories.

“I have a story for every picture,” he said.

His most recent trip was a Southern Caribbean cruise with 10 stops.

“I keep going because I enjoy the people and the lifestyle,” said Mitchell. “I find that at my age I’ve just got to keep busy.

Mitchell is the president of the South High School All-Alumni Association. He is an active, life-long member of Martin Luther Lutheran Church where he is in charge of the memorial committee and a member of the finance committee, usher and lector, and has recently become a member of the 150th anniversary committee which will be celebrated this year.

He is a 1936 graduate of South High School and graduated from Wittenberg College in 1940 with a degree in business and personnel psychology.

He is a 48-year member of the Tippecanoe Country Club and the only charter member of his church bowling league.

Mitchell served in the U.S. Navy during WWII and the Korean War.

“I also travelled across the United States,” he said. “A lot of what I’ve seen in the U.S. is very comparable to the scenery around the world.”

Most recently Mitchell has been enjoying river cruises.

“I’ve been very fortunate to be able to do this,” he said.