Over the years my wife and I have enjoyed a fascination with islands.

Wait, did I just type fascination? Maybe a better word would be … obsession.

It all began, I suspect, with Hawaii, Maui in particular. That particular island was our honeymoon destination. The 1995 visit began with a two-day stay in what used to be the village of Lahaina (recently decimated by fire), followed by a longer stay in remote Hana, where we rented what we were told was the cottage in which Charles Lindbergh had died.

And, no, we didn’t see any Lindbergh ghosts lurking in the shadows.

A 2009 trip took us to Santa Catalina Island, which sits just off the California coast, some 22 (not 26) miles west of Laguna Beach. We stayed in a hotel in the town of Avalon that featured a view both of the ocean and the surrounding mountains. And we were able to go on a group tour of the rest of the island, most of which is a conservancy-controlled nature reserve.

Iceland was another island visit. We spent 10 days in there in October 2014. Intent on seeing as much as we could, we rented a car and drove what’s known as the Ring Road. Spending time in the capital city of Reykjavik is entertaining, as is heading to the famous Golden Circle and its geysers and waterfalls and hot springs. But to get a full feel for what the island has to offer, it’s worth the expense to head out in a rented car and explore the beaches, the glaciers, volcanoes and remote villages you’re likely to come across.

We’ve explored a number of Italian islands, too, from Sicily to Sardinia. On a 2010 trip to Positano, which sits on Italy’s southern coast, near Sorrento, we took a day trip to the nearby island of Capri. Because the seas were high, we had to put up with some fellow boat passengers getting sick during the powerboat crossing. And we weren’t able to see the famous Blue Grotto because of that same rough water. But we soothed ourselves with a tasty lunch in a bistro that sits just above the grotto’s entrance.

On another Italian venture in 2017 we stayed a few days on the island of Ponza. We rented a room that sat just outside the main village. To get there we had to walk what seemed like a couple of hundred steps up to where a very friendly woman met us (she was especially kind when responding to our poor efforts at speaking her native language). Because the island is so small, we were limited in what we could see, but we had fun practicing Italian, eating great dinners and simply exploring the village’s twisting back alleys.

One of our most rewarding Italian island adventures came in 2016 after my wife found a note left by her late mother containing a single word: Pantelleria. It referred to an Italian-owned island that sits southwest of Sicily and just 42 miles and change from the coast of Tunisia. So we had to go.

We flew from Rome to Palermo, Sicily, where we connected to a smaller plane that dropped us off at the island’s small airport. We were met by a woman through whom we had rented one of the island’s trademark houses, which one website describes as “dammusi: cube-shaped buildings made of volcanic rock, with dome-like white roofs that serve to catch rainwater.”

We spent the next several days driving around the island, which is famous for a variety of dishes that feature the island’s main crops of capers, eggplants, olive oil and tomatoes, and exploring the mostly rocky beaches. (Some movie trivia: The 2015 film “A Bigger Splash” was filmed there.)

But the highlight of our Italian island escapades came in June of 2018 when we visited the Lipari Islands – or, as they’re known in Italian, Le Isole Eolie. We opted to take a hydrofoil from a port near Naples, and the ride was … well, it was the kind of ride that you pay money for at a theme park. Only this bouncy experience lasted nearly seven hours.

The seven islands of the archipelago are, altogether, deemed a World Heritage Site. The largest of the group is Lipari, which is where we booked a room in a hotel along one of the small village’s main streets. Not only did this afford us a good way to easily see all the village had to offer, but it was an easy walk to the port where we were able to catch ferries to the other islands.

We didn’t rent a car, even though you can. It’s just that you don’t need to, considering how available taxis and scooter rentals are. Our strategy was simple: On Lipari, we walked to see the island’s main draws. One of the most historic, as well as picturesque, is the Norman Cloister (Chiostro de normanni), which dates back to the 12th century and is part of Lipari’s Benedictine Monastery.

A ferry system connects all the islands, though we traveled only to four others (we skipped Alicudi and Filicudi). Other than Stromboli, the island with an active volcano (and site of Roberto Rossellini’s 1950 film of the same name), we made only day trips.

And, again, our strategy was simple: We’d walk to a main taxi gathering area, find drivers we thought looked trustworthy and ask them how much they would charge us for an island tour. The price always came to something that seemed reasonable, and in any event the ride earned us a good view of the rest of Lipari, Vulcano and Salina (while we simply walked around the main piazza area of the smallest of the group, Panarea).

Not only did our plan earn us a decent opportunity to see the sights, it gave us a good change to practice Italian with friendly people but also to get an insider’s view of what life was like for those who actually lived in the islands.

The high point, though, came during our overnight stay on Stromboli. Mary Pat found a recommended restaurant online, and we walked up the hill from our beach-side hotel. I didn’t count the steps but there were a lot of them, and they took us past a number of shops, a church (chiesa) set on a small but busy piazza, and up a lane to the restaurant – Trattoria ai Gechi – that sits on a hillside.

I remember sitting there in the dwindling sunlight, looking out over the glow coming off the green and gold fields, the blue of the sea in the distance. There, with a glass of cold Italian white wine in my hand, I recall thinking – as I have so many times in the past – how great life can be.

At least that’s how island life has been for two world travers from Spokane.