When Maura Eberhardt says he enjoys travel, he means it.
It’s his livelihood.
As a travel agent since the 1970s, Eberhardt has also used his occupation to visit 68 different countries.
Eberhardt, 64, is one of three candidates vying for two open seats on the Mount Pleasant Town Commission in the upcoming municipal elections.
Eberhardt just returned from trip to Mexico, in which he traveled by train through Copper Canyon.
“It’s four-times the size of the Grand Canyon,” Eberhardt said. “At the bottom of the canyon, it would be 105 degrees at night. And at the top, you would need a blanket.”
His favorite destinations have been Denmark and other Scandinavian countries. And he’s ventured to all those different countries with no fluency in any foreign language.
Sometimes, Eberhardt said, not knowing a language can add to the adventure of traveling.
“You will be in a restaurant and don’t even know what you’re ordering, just point at the menu,” he said. “Or point to the next table — ‘That looks good. I’ll have that.’”
Even after all the traveling he has done, there are still several trips on Eberhardt’s list of things to do.
“I want to go to Egypt and see the Sphinx and the Pyramids,” he said. “But I just want a taxi to pick me up at the airport, take me to the Sphinx, take to the Pyramids and then back to the airport. That’s all the interest I have in Egypt.”
On one vacation to a South American island, Eberhardt was the victim of an attempted robbery and was stabbed in the process. But when officials asked for information to reach his family in the U.S., Eberhardt faked amnesia.
“I didn’t want them to call my family and worry anyone,” Eberhardt said.
When he’s not having global adventures, Eberhardt said he enjoys tending to his garden, in which he grows a plethora of vegetables.
“Green beans are the toughest to grow and pick,” Eberhardt said. “With one hand, it takes twice as long to pick green beans.”
Donna Blackwelder, who has worked with Eberhardt at David Walter Travel Agency for 27 years, said he’s known for his humor and care for others.
“He does have a very witty personality,” Blackwelder said. “But he would really do anything for anybody. My daughter adores him.”
-Eric Deines
