Ellen Detlefsen and her husband Charles Reynolds have been regular visitors to Bermuda for more than four decades.

The couple, from Pittsburgh, spent just over a week on the island for their latest trip and have already booked for next year.

“Our friends never realise how close it is,” Professor Detlefsen, a faculty member in the University of Pittsburgh’s School of Information Sciences, told The Royal Gazette.

“It’s much better than the Caribbean.

“Our first trip was in 1975 — on a very big PanAm plane — and we’ve come annually since then, nearly always staying at Greenbank,” the 69-year-old added.

“For years we brought our children and they always enjoyed their ‘spring break’ time away from the chill of a winter in Pittsburgh; we are looking forward to bringing our young grandchildren to Bermuda in the near future.

“We’ve already booked a stay for the first two weeks in April 2017.”

Dr Reynolds, a professor in the School of Medicine and director of the university’s Ageing Institute, added that a “Bermudaphilia” keeps bringing them back.

“Horseshoe Bay Beach — that’s the prettiest beach in the world,” the 68-year-old said.

Professor Detlefsen added: “When I was a young girl, growing up in Virginia, I used to look at the popular women’s magazines that my mother loved.

“In them, in the 1950s, there was a series of tourism advertisements featuring families and couples posing in Bermuda attire, enjoying their umpteenth visit to the island; while I remember those ads quite vividly, I never dreamt then that I too would make multiple trips to Bermuda.”

The couple are regular guests at the Greenbank Guest House at Salt Kettle, which has been run by the Ashton family for more than half a century, and consider the proprietors “good friends”.

Professor Detlefsen described the feeling of getting on the plane to Bermuda as “instant relaxation” and added that she loved the beach, the weather and that there was “always something interesting to do”.

Some of their favourite activities include spending a day in St George’s, enjoying the views of the Great Sound from Fort Scaur and Heydon Trust, walking on the Railway Trail in Paget and Sandys, taking the ferry, eating at their favourite restaurants and shopping on Front Street.

“However, we can always find something new to see or do each year,” Professor Detlefsen said.

“We always combine old familiar things with new adventures or sites.”

Professor Detlefsen has also grown very fond of the arts in Bermuda, collecting acrylics and watercolours by Christopher Marson and enjoying many visits to Masterworks, the Bermuda National Gallery and the Bermuda Society of Arts exhibitions at City Hall and the Bermuda Arts Centre in Dockyard.

The couple also recalled how Bermuda has transformed over the years, noting an increase in traffic, the impact of hurricanes, the advent of huge cruise ships, the closures of familiar shops and restaurants, the growth of the financial sector and the shrinkage of the tourist sector.

“Front Street has changed so much,” Professor Detlefsen said, “but some things never change and that’s part of the charm.”