My brother and I just returned from a long trip. My honeymoon, actually. You see, a funny thing happened on my way to the altar. My fiancee dumped me the week of our wedding. Ouch, huh? But I'm an optimist. I didn't panic (well, maybe just a little). I decided to have a wedding anyway... just without a bride (highly recommended, by the way -- all the fun, no hideous bridal party dresses).
I also decided to go on a scheduled Costa Rican honeymoon with my recently divorced brother, Kurt. We canceled the flower petals on the beds, swapped champagne for beer and promised not to carry each other over any thresholds. During the trip, a strange thing happened. I realized that having my life turn upside-down might not be such a bad thing after all.
So, Kurt and I decided to extend our honeymoon. Big time. We quit our jobs, sold our homes, gave away our clothes and furniture, discarded cell phones and pagers (I think Kurt used a nine iron on his). That was early 2000. Since then we've honeymooned through nearly 60 countries in Eastern Europe, Latin America, Southeast Asia and Africa.
The result is a book called "Honeymoon With My Brother", published by St. Martin's Press. Thanks for picking up a copy and for spreading the good word.
Here's to more honeymoons and travel in 2006.
Franz Wisner
