Cynthia Bernbach-Pearlman and her husband, Sy, were both television producers and writers with NBC News. Since retiring in 1997 they spend five to six months a year traveling here and abroad.

Ms. Bernbach-Pearlman is thrilled to be sharing just a few of the thousands of “snaps” she has taken on their journeys.

You’ve really got to love traveling to do it five months out of every year. And we do. The experiences we have, the people we meet, the sights we see. It’s mostly all marvelous.

We usually don’t stay in one place and we don’t make reservations. We research deeply into the countries we’re going to visit, and then we travel from town to city to village, judging as we go how much time each place is worth.

We’ve always had the freedom to do this because since 1986 we’ve kept a secondhand car in Europe (but that’s a story for another day). We’re now on our third car, a Citroen sedan, which took us on our recent three-week adventure through Ukraine.

Some of the out-of-the-way places we visited wouldn’t ordinarily be on our itinerary, but we had agreed to take pictures for individuals who wanted to see their family’s ancestral villages. Happily, this was a real bonus, because we saw a Ukraine that most people never see.

It was spring. The fields were dotted with farmers and their horse-drawn wagons, as well as with newborn colts, calves and lambs. Wherever we went the people were friendly. Some asked if I would send them a copy of the picture I took and of course, I did. Since we don’t speak Ukrainian, we talked in “mime” and with my husband’s rudimentary Russian. But despite the language barrier, there were lots of smiles, friendliness, and warm handshakes. And yes, they knew we were American.

There are a few outstanding examples of this friendliness: In each village we asked where the Jewish cemetery was located so that I could take photos. If we didn’t understand the answers, the people would jump in the car and direct us to it. In one case it involved climbing a rather steep hill on foot. Without our Ukrainian “guides” we never would have found some of these cemeteries.

But the day we stopped at a collective farm to take pictures is the most remarkable example of why travel is great and people are wonderful. The managers of the farm spotted us taking photos and invited us in for a look around. After we saw hundreds of horses, cows and one prize bull they asked if we would like to have lunch with them. Naturally we said yes. We thought we were going to their home but it turned out to be the collective’s dining hall. Inside we were stunned to see a group of about 25 people, most of them over the age of eighty, all decked out in their Sunday best and bedecked in medals. They were attending a lunch to mark the annual anniversary of the end of World War II.

I hope you enjoy looking at these photos as much as I enjoyed taking them and to everyone I wish good travels and great adventures.

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