Brian & Elaine Chambers have visited 70 countries...and they're just getting started
Brian and Elaine Chambers have visited more than 70 countries with plans to visit more. Photo by Alex Dominguez
DOWNEY — A 2023 Pew Research Center study claimed that about three quarters of those in the US had traveled to at least one other country; 50% of which to between one and four.
Downey residents Brian and Elaine Chambers have been to 70 over 10 years.
Married in 2003, Brian owns a pest control company and Elaine is a manager at St. Mary’s Medical Center in Long Beach. If you call them anything, though, it should be world travelers.
Their first excursion was one year after they married: a Caribbean cruise for their honeymoon that took them to Nassau, Bahamas, St. Martin, and St. Thomas Islands.
In fact, cruising tends to be couples preferred method of travel for the couple.
“You get onboard and you unpack and pack one time, and you see many countries,” said Brian. “You don’t have to haul your luggage from place to place. You don’t have to get hotel rooms, worry about food.
“You get on a ship, and you’ve got Broadway style shows in the theatre every single night, comedy in a different theatre. Then you’ve got singing duets in a different theatre, magic in a different theatre. You’ve got a casino; you’ve got a massage place to get massages. You’ve got a gym, multiple pools, jacuzzies, indoor and outdoor. It’s like a moving resort taking you place to place.”
One standout trip was to Paris, though that wasn’t a part of a cruise. That particular vacation involved some heavy planning, culminating in a truly spectacular moment.
“I planned the trip so precise that I actually looked at the weather almanac to see what time the sunset would set on a specific day nine months away, just so I could book dinner at Le Jules Verne Restaurant,” said Brian. “It’s a Michelin star restaurant up in the Eiffle Tower. I wanted to book a half hour before the sunset. Sure enough, we got the perfect sunset.”
Other favorite trips include a river boat cruise and to Bratislava, Slovakia.
Brian and Elaine never truly know where their next destination might be, often leaving that decision up to fate (and whatever itinerary is available to book while on the ship).
“What we do, when we are on the cruise, we go to the future cruise desk,” said Elaine. “You can just put the down payment and you can choose your room already.
“The future cruise desk helps because all their schedules, all the dates, and the place to go are there. You look at ‘Do I want to travel this month,’ and what are the places to go that month. It helps.”
Brian jokingly said that he didn’t think Elaine “cares where we go.”
“I get up really early, like 3:30 in the morning. I go in my office and I book trips,” said Brian. “During Covid, I was booking trips while she was sleeping.”
Their last trip didn’t go as planned, as their cruise to Spain ended abruptly only two days in after Elaine slipped on cobblestone and injured herself.
“We had two days in Barcelona, and then we had a 12-night cruise around Spain, Morocco and Portugal,” said Brian. “On the second day of the cruise is when she broke her ankle.”
Due to her injury, the couple was forced to leave the boat behind and fly home.
Having traveled so much, Brian and Elaine have seen all sorts of people and customs.
“When you see that many cultures, it really opens your mind and your eyes to differences between cultures,” said Brian. “When you drive around LA and you see piles and piles of trash on the ground, and then you go down a street in New Zealand and you don’t see a piece of trash anywhere.
“I even said to the tour guide, ‘Man, it’s clean here.’ He said, ‘Yeah, that’s because we take pride in our country.’ I think he was giving me a [hard time].’”
The couple has four trips already planned ahead, including to Italy, Greece, Turkey, and Croatia in May. Switzerland and Antarctica remain on the desired trip list, and Elaine says the prior cruise to Spain will likely be rescheduled at some point.
There’s also another very special trip they hope to take.
“We hope to do the world cruise,” said Elaine. “120 days on a cruise ship.”
“It’s 100 countries,” added Brian.
Eventually, Brian and Elaine will retire. Then, the plan is to “travel more,” albeit potentially not as far.
“Maybe locally,” said Elaine. “We haven’t completed all the states here.”
“It’s starting to get a little difficult to travel because of all the airports, and the walking and the luggage and all of that stuff combined. As you get older, it’s harder to manage it all,” said Brian. “I figure when we’re too tired to do that, then we’re just going to do RVing, maybe. Just drive. We don’t know exactly yet.”