The Millers spent the next half of their vacation in Barbados, an island they selected in part because they’d never been there before and they like to explore new places. After a month of eating beef everywhere they went, they enjoyed feasting on the island’s fresh seafood and produce.
Eric continued his quest to taste as many new wines as possible, for South American wines were widely available on Barbados. Eric calculates that all told he tasted about 200 wines during the couple’s 60-day excursion, including 75 good enough that they merited tasting notes. Though a connoisseur, Eric is no wine snob.
“I made a point throughout of tasting reds and whites, from boxed wines to top ends,” he says.
While the first month of their trip was jam-packed with activities, the second month was all about taking it slow—something altogether new for a couple used to running their own business.
They read, sunbathed and swam. They shopped the local markets and cooked together in the little house they had rented. They also talked about a book that they plan to write together—their second—on sweet wines.
Most of all, though, they had time in this last part of their change-of-life trip to reflect, and the conclusion they came to, Lee says, is that there’s no hurry to determine their plans.
“After you retire, everyone starts asking you right away, ‘What will you do next?’” Lee says. “On this trip I realized that there’s no real pressure to decide right away. After a lifetime when you are so used to rushing, we finally have the opportunity ahead of ourselves to take our time.”
Time to taste the good life.