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There are 195 countries in the world and countless languages, cultures, and peoples within them. Only a handful of people have visited every country on Earth, but even then, regular traveling opens jet-setting adventurers up to all that life has to offer.
According to Steve Ziemke, the senior vice president of Gulf Coast Western, it’s his goal to visit as many nations as possible. “I’ve been to 28 countries,” he says. “I love seeing different cultures.” Not only do he and his family enjoy excursions, but Ziemke believes regular wandering opens him up to new ideas, which translates into his work in sales.
Steve Ziemke shares some of his favorite destinations, and how frequent journeys have given him a new perspective on life, family, and business.
Steve Ziemke’s Jet-Setting Trips Around the Globe
The travel bug bit Steve Ziemke as a young man when he had the opportunity to visit Tehran, Iran, with his father. “My dad worked in insurance over in Tehran,” Ziemke says. “I was there the summer before the uprising. It was a crazy experience but very rewarding, too.”
Ziemke believes in the motto “You only live once” and lives it out by roaming as much as he can. In the fall of 2022, the sales executive traveled throughout Africa with his wife. “We did South Africa, Botswana, and Zimbabwe in a two-week tour, so that was fascinating,” he recalls.
While Ziemke relishes the opportunity to return to Africa, he generally isn’t inclined to revisit the same places. “It would be hard to go back to the same country because there’s so many to see,” he explains. After all, Africa is a vast continent, and it’s impossible to see its entirety in just one trip. In the future, Ziemke wants to explore the rich diversity of new cultures there.
When pressed to choose a favorite destination, Ziemke can’t choose just one. “It’s really hard to say what the best trip was, what the best country was, because it’s just so much out there, and everything’s so different,” he explains. Instead of revisiting the same destination multiple times, Ziemke believes that it’s best to explore new places. “I would want to see a new country because life is short and you have to enjoy,” he muses.
Exploring the World as a Family
While Steve Ziemke frequently travels with his wife of 40 years, nothing makes him happier than exploring new places alongside his children and grandchildren. “Family’s so important to me, and it’s always been as I was growing up. What makes me happy is when the family’s together,” he says.
In the fall of 2022, the Ziemkes took a family trip to the island of Kauai in Hawaii. All of Ziemke’s offspring went, including his grandkids. “That was one of the best trips I’ve ever had,” he reminisces.
Ziemke believes it’s vital for families to prioritize making memories together and that wayfaring is the best way to do so. In fact, in the summer of 2023, his family plans to go to Italy for two weeks. Ziemke visited Rome in the past, but he’s adding a few more cities to his travel roster this summer. “My oldest son, his wife, and two kids — we’re all going to Venice and then Florence. It’s going to be another pretty amazing trip,” he says.
Combining Outdoor Exploration With Travel
As much as he loves traveling, Steve Ziemke is an even bigger fan of the outdoors. He loves nothing more than the rush of hiking, skiing, biking, or kayaking in a new location.
In fact, he plans to do just that during his summer sojourn in Italy. “My son has a friend out in Italy, so they invited us out there. We’re going to go to a small town called Ortisei, which is at the base of the Dolomites, the really jagged Italian Alps,” he says. “It’s pretty unique because you take a gondola up from the city to this plateau, and then, from the plateau on these huge mountains, so there’s a lot of hiking. It’s just beautiful.”
But Ziemke isn’t opposed to touring domestically, either. As an avid outdoorsman, he regularly camps at sites across the United States. “A few years ago, we bought a camper trailer. We call it glamping because we have a shower, refrigerator, microwave, and TV,” he adds. “We like it because it gets us out.”
While Ziemke can’t quite pick his favorite global destination, he does have a favorite campsite. “The most favorite campsite is a place called Camp Hale up in Leadville [Colorado], up at about 10,000 feet. It’s an old World War II training site for the mountain division, where they learned how to ski, and some survival, so there are old structures left,” he explains. In addition to camping, he relishes the chance to do fly-fishing, hiking, and biking wherever he goes.
Steve Ziemke: ‘Maximize Whatever You Can’”
Travel often falls to the bottom of busy executives’ priority lists, but Ziemke believes it makes him better both in life and in business. Regular trips put him in new and sometimes uncomfortable situations, which only leads to more growth over the long term.
Whether it’s the rocky terrain of the Italian Alps or the beaches of Hawaii, Steve Ziemke believes that traveling with family and experiencing the great outdoors are the keys to growth, success, and happiness. “You live once, so why not maximize whatever you can?” he says.
