For longtime Newport couple, life’s a worldwide adventure

Brigitte Shulze wrote of her parents in a recent Facebook post: “Thank you, Mom and Dad, for the trip of a lifetime. I can’t think of a better way for us all to celebrate your 50th wedding anniversary than a trip through Africa.”

Shulze’s parents are Bart and Sally Hackley of Balboa Island in Newport Beach, who treated their two children along with spouses and five grandkids to the two-week African trip in December as part of their overall six-week travel adventure to mark their 50th anniversary.

The couple had always shared their love of travel with their children as they grew up and now are sharing it with their grandchildren.

“We have a tradition that when the grandkids turn 10 we take them wherever they want to go in the world,” Sally Hackley said. “So far, their choices have been Paris, London, Barcelona and the Mediterranean. The end of this month we’re taking Chinny, our youngest, to Washington, D.C., for a Warriors basketball game, Philadelphia for lacrosse and ‘Rocky’ and Colorado for skiing.”

Building awareness about world problems has become part of the travel experience the Hackleys want to impart to the grandkids.

“During the Africa trip, our granddaughter Sarah learned about poachers and now she is raising money for the World Wildlife Fund by selling bracelets in her community,” Sally said.

Bart is a retired certified public accountant, though he continues to invest in real estate and manage the couple’s stock and bond portfolio. Sally, also retired, co-owned a travel agency in Century City.

According to Sally, the secrets to their marriage are laughing, having fun and sharing a love for travel.

Bart added that it’s important to allow independence in a marriage. “I think it’s terrible to restrict one another,” he said.

Though they mostly travel together, there are times they’ve journeyed separately. Bart, with his competitive nature and insatiable curiosity, has a place in Guinness World Records for competing in 123 triathlons in one year, encompassing 12 states and five countries.

He also is among a handful of people who have set foot in every country in the world, according to the Travelers’ Century Club, a nonprofit representing world travelers who have visited 100 or more countries and territories. The organization listed 320 destinations in 2011, when Bart was honored for his feat.

It took him 13½ years to accomplish, according to the group.

His most recent challenge was in October when he and his brother, who lives in England, participated in the Coast to Coast Walk, a two-week, nearly 200-mile hike across northern England.

Sally met him in New York and they took a trip up the Hudson River and visited Cooperstown and the National Baseball Hall of Fame. From there they visited Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, and in November played golf at the Ocean Course at Hokuala on Kauai.

For the last leg of their anniversary trip, they cruised from Cape Town, South Africa, to western Australia for a month, with stops in Mossel Bay, Port Elizabeth and Mozambique, to name a few.

Bart and Sally met on a blind date in August 1966 after their graduation from the University of Arizona. They had been dating only two months when Bart joined the National Guard and they shifted to a long-distance relationship.

When Bart returned home the following spring, he proposed in a parking lot in Marina del Rey on April 1. “I knew by the second date that I wanted to marry her,” Bart said.

Sally, however, turned down the April Fools’ Day proposal. She said yes a month later.

The two married on Sept. 16, 1967, and had two children by their third year of marriage, raising them in Westlake Village.

They moved to Balboa Island in 1996.

Their travels are only part of what keeps them active.

“Every day I walk at least three miles,” Bart said. “I play a couple of hours of golf five to six days week, tennis and pickleball once a week, bicycling, swimming, running in the pool, gym work twice a week, and periodically I jump on the SUP and paddle in the harbor. Each day is busy, as I hope to live to 100 and continue to compete in triathlons.”

Sally began playing competitive tennis when she was 7 and ended up on a tournament circuit while in college and in Europe. These days she walks, gardens and plays golf.

One thing the Hackleys haven’t done is go into space — but not for lack of trying.

Bart put down a $20,000 deposit to Space Adventures several years ago for the opportunity to fulfill his dream of traveling into space. But with no date set in the near future, Bart opted instead for space flight training at the Russian facility referred to as Star City, just outside Moscow.

Sally and granddaughter Ella joined in the experience in 2016.

“It was so exciting to go inside the capsule and see how the astronauts live,” Sally said.

The adventure continues.

SUSAN HOFFMAN is a contributor to Times Community News.