Dear Suitcase,

For $19.99 you’ve been one heck of a travel bargain. You have been my trusty companion for thousands of miles, four trips around the world and hundreds of jaunts from Gainesville to New York, Hanoi, Bangkok, Beijing, Paris, London, Miami, St. Petersburg and more places than I can remember. I’ve lugged you on board every make of airplane, jockeyed for overhead space, dragged you full of purchased treasures, dirty clothes, stupid zip lock bags filled with TSA-prescribed 3 oz. bottles of shampoo, creams and emollients. You’ve endured stickers, kicks, tears and more weight than you were ever designed to carry. May you rest in piece, or should I say peace. I’m off to my local big box store to see if I can find one of your cousins for another $19.99. Thank you, dear suitcase for a lifetime’s worth of memories. TVN

You know me. Always looking for a way to go on a trip. So when I saw this contest at Cathay Pacific airlines, I jumped at it. They requested that you write a 200-word essay, submit a photo or a 30-second video and answer the question “where in the world would you go in 80 days.”  The winners all sent in videos. Guess I better get a video camera for my next contest entry.

Here’s my losing entry.

Where in the world would you go in 80 days?

That’s easy. Around the world, of course!

Armed with my trusty $19.99 Walmart roller bag, I will continue my quest to see 100 countries and prove you don’t have to be as rich as Bill Gates or an airline employee to see the world. For the past 40 years, I’ve been traveling as much as work and budget allows. So far, I’ve visited 72 countries.

How many more can I add in 80 days? Korea, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Phillipines, Dubai, South Africa, Pakistan and Abu Dabi.

With eight new countries added to my list, I think I’d have time to revisit countries I’ve been to but cities I’ve missed: Moscow, Toronto and Bangladore. With creative scheduling, I might even fit in favorites cities: Hanoi, London and Paris and stay more than two hours in Tokyo, where I had a short layover a year ago.

What do I hope to learn on this trip? As Henry Miller said “one’s destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things” and that is surely what I will learn: new ways of seeing and experiencing the people and places that make up this wonderful planet we call home. Bon voyage!

OK, it’s not a blood relationship. But my brother-in-law’s brother-in-law’s sister was married to Paula Deen’s husband. So that makes us distantly related — but related enough to get into Lady & Son’s, her Savannah restaurant, without waiting in line three hours (which we did for several years before we realized the connection). Actually my brother-in-law’s nephew graduated from college with a degree in history and low and behold, couldn’t find a job, so went to work as a busboy at Paula’s restaurant. He’s stayed there and is now a manager. So we drop his name and in we go. The photo above is what I had for lunch last Friday when we stopped in Savannah on our way to Shallotte, NC to visit a family friend. Yum-o. No one can beat Paula’s mac and cheese. No calorie counting allowed!

Puppies Sally and Holly accompanied us on the trip. The Westin in Savannah takes dogs and even has a side door that provides easy access to the elevator so you don’t have to walk through the huge lobby. Despite the rain going up and coming back, it was a fun trip. Shallotte is just north of Myrtle Beach. I don’t think I’ve seen that many t-shirt, shell and souvenir shops in one location in ages. A bit much. But nearby communities are much nicer and there are even some beaches with a bit of privacy.

On our drive from Houston to New Orleans, we decided to stray from our normal lunch stop, Cracker Barrel. OK, it’s a chain and I hate chains, but Ken loves to eat breakfast when I eat lunch and they have those great southern vegetables. But my sister always teases me about Cracker Barrel, so much so that she gave me a $25 gift card for Christmas. So on the road through southern Louisiana, I see a sign for the Boudin King. “How about something different for lunch,” I say to Ken. He’s game, so we follow the signs and get off I-10 and head into town. After driving around for a while, we stop at a Popeye’s for directions. (little did we know we should have stayed there!). After a few twists and turns, we find the restaurant on a tiny back street in a neighborhood. It looks like a 1970s trailer, complete with wood paneling and linoleum floors. We head up to the counter to order our food and I decide to try the gumbo. Ken sticks with the fried shrimp dinner.

When our number is called, Ken picks up our food and I stare at a brown liquid with a few tiny shrimp and a glump of rice. No okra, no tomatoes, no onion. Truly, the worst gumbo that has ever passed my lips. Ken’s shrimp was somewhat better but the fries were stone-cold.

When we get to New Orleans for our night’s stopover before driving back to Gainesville, Ken suggests our final blow-out with breakfast at Brennans. I’m already five pounds over weight, so what’s one more meal, right? My faith in cajun gumbo is renewed as I have the best gumbo ever. Choked full of huge shrimp, fish, crab, okra, spices and veggies. Delicious. So good, we order a gallon and stop at a convenience store to buy a highly overpriced cooler and ice to bring it home.

Quote of the day for the Boudin King from Ken, “well it wasn’t good, but it sure was local!”