By Amy Will | awill@alextimes.com

The year was 1975. They had both already experienced much of the world and were living in Italy. Just two Americans immersed in the culture and their work, not expecting to find their perfect match in the hills of Naples. But, they did find one another – and fell in love – and the rest, well, is an incredible history.

Springfield residents Patricia and Samuel Boglio – Pat and Sam as they prefer to
be called – have created a life rich with adventure, spontaneity and companionship.

Their travels have taken them all over Europe, Africa, to little corners in Asia and even toAntarctica. They have circled the world four times.

“Since we left Italy, there’s been 2,966 days of travel. Four hundred days on cruise ships. And we have made…oh, we, we’re up to 93 cruises,” Samuel recounted.

The Boglios’ story began in the United States. Pat, who grew up on a small farm in Windham, New Hampshire, said her passion for travel came from her father.

“My father was an armchair traveler. He was an old New Englander and wasn’t interested in going out. But, oh, did he read. And he instilled the travel bug in all of us,” Pat remembered.

Her first expedition only took her a few hours away from home. After graduating from the University of New Hampshire, Pat moved to upstate New York to start her teaching career.

“I always wanted to live overseas and I applied for and got a job as a teacher for the military,” Pat said. “And so, I went to the Philippines for a year and then Germany
for three.”

Sam was born in Michigan, but moved to Florida when he was five. After graduating from the University of Florida, he joined the Peace Corps, also traveling to the Philippines. He said he was only there for two years before joining the Navy.

Sam eventually became a civilian architect for the Navy and was sent to Naples, Italy. Pat was already living there, having settled in the city after her assignment in Germany.

When asked about how they came to meet, Pat deferred to Sam for that part of the story.

“There was a big party and both Pat and I got invited, not knowing each other. But we got invited and I was sitting talking to the wife of somebody that I had worked with and she says, ‘There’s a woman in the back I think you might enjoy talking to,’” Sam remembered.

They chatted that night, dated a bit and went back to the U.S. to get married in 1977.

They returned to Italy immediately after and lived there for three years. It was not long be-
fore they both felt the tug to travel again and Pat, the expert planner of the two, arranged
their first trip to London and Malta. Pat has never used a travel agent and since retirement has enjoyed the challenge of carving out their excursions.

“If we’re going to go from here to here, we need to take this train and do this or we’ll patch together from this. I just work it through,” she said.

Exotic destinations required a little more legwork.

“There was a tour of Japan that was by rail by their wonderful train system. And then from there, we went on to China and we had booked a guided tour of not the normal places that people go to in China. I had listed all these beautiful places that I wanted to go to and I booked the whole thing for like a month or two months,” Pat recalled.

By land, air and sea they have traveled from one end of the globe to another. Sam
described one of their four around-the-world trips; an experience almost too fantastic to believe.

“We had flown to Europe, did some sightseeing there, went to Uzbekistan. There was a month-long tour that took us to China. And we had two weeks in Korea. We flew to Australia for a week and then caught a ship back from Sydney, back to Los Angeles
and flew home from there,” Sam shared.

Pat and Sam recalled fondly the friendships they have made along the way.

“One of the trips to Australia, we had met this couple and they got off in Australia and we
circumnavigated Australia. But when we came to their town, they took us all around and then we invited them to come and see us and they did. They came for three weeks,” the couple remembered.

Sam described how those special connections led to a steady stream of correspondence.

“I’ve sent out what I call electronic postcards to various people, friends and family. And initially it was just to keep in touch with people that we worked with and it has evolved. I have sent out, I don’t know how many postcards now, but it’s been three to six a year,”
Sam said.

Now in their 80s, the Boglios have embraced a slightly slower pace. They moved into Greenspring Senior Living Community about a year ago and are enjoying this next
chapter of life.

“When we first came, you have a name tag that has a green ribbon on it and it indicates that you’re fairly new and people would stop us in the hall and say let’s get together. So yeah, it is so friendly,” Pat shared.

They will soon be on the move again. They embark on their next journey in just a
few weeks.

“We’re going on a cruise in the beginning of May, seven days from Boston to Montreal and then come back to Boston. And then in September, we are going to Europe again,” Pat explained.

“Sometimes I just sit down and say, ‘What did I ever think of when I was this little girl in
Nashua, New Hampshire?’ I didn’t even expect to go to college,” she said.

Sam interrupted quickly, “And look, you got me.” Pat added tenderly, “And, I got you.”