I Am Titanium: My Journey Back to the Sky

​

Hi there — I’m Barbara Neckere Holmes, a 60-year-old woman who’s always had wanderlust, a passport in one hand and a suitcase in the other. I am titanium — quite literally.

​

Why I Travel

 

Life can get so loud — deadlines, expectations, chronic pain, the pressure to be everything to everyone. But when I’m traveling, things quiet down. The world narrows to three simple questions:

 

What am I going to do today?

Where am I going to sleep?

And what’s on the menu?

 

That’s it. That’s the magic. That’s why I keep going.

 

I’ve always chased the feeling that the world is so much bigger — and more beautiful — than we imagine.

​

But in 2018, everything slowed down. I left a high-pressure job that had been weighing on me for several years — emotionally, mentally, and as it turned out, physically. The stress caught up with me in the form of relentless joint pain, and before long, my knees — both of them — were screaming for help.

​

That’s when the real journey began.

In December 2019, I had my first total knee replacement. The left knee went first (it had the louder complaints). The right one would soon follow, but for the moment, I focused all my energy on recovery, determined to walk — and eventually fly — again without pain.

​

Then… the world stopped.

As I was finishing rehab, the pandemic hit. Everything paused — including the second surgery. Like so many others, I waited. And when the hospitals opened back up, I moved forward. In October 2020, I had my right knee replaced.

​

By spring of 2021, thanks to a phenomenal team of surgeons and physical therapists — and a deep reservoir of stubbornness — I was not just walking again. I was thriving. Pain-free. Functional. Strong. And so ready to get back out into the world.

​

My first post-surgery adventure?

A place I knew well, but was seeing with brand-new legs — St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands. It was my first time boarding a plane with my titanium knees, and traveling in general after the pandemic, and honestly, I was nervous. Would I beep through TSA? Would I stiffen up on the flight? Would travel feel different now?

Spoiler: it was better.

​

There’s something about being grounded for so long — by pain, by surgery, by a pandemic — that makes the act of stepping off a plane feel like a miracle. St. Croix wasn’t just a trip; it was a declaration. I was back.

And I’m just getting started.