"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover." -- Mark Twain
Glacier Bay, Alaska
To me, traveling is not just moving from place to place. It is a journey, both inward and outward. I don't need to "find myself." I have already done that. Neither do I need to "lose myself," or escape from something. Indeed, to take a journey is to experience life at its fullest. To explore the world. To connect with other people. To encounter foreign cultures. To savor the tastes, sights, sounds, smells of a foreign land.
New places constantly beckon me. It is like an addiction. Wanderlust. Nomadic.
The travel bug first hit me when I was a little girl watching old Tarzan movies. The explorers tromping through the African jungle and living in huge, canvas tents; the wild animals; the natives with their intriguing dress and lifestyle. The danger, adventure, exoticness. I also loved National Geographic Magazine, not just the photographs, but the articles as well; I would close my eyes and imagine I was right there in that place!
My adventurous spirit was also fueled back in the 1960s watching television episodes of Jonny Quest, the lucky boy who ventured to exciting places with his scientist father. Even though the show was animated, I would watch enraptured and envision myself traveling right along with Jonny and his father.
I was very fortunate that I came from a family that traveled. Growing up, we took wonderful family vacations, and I saw much of the U.S. this way. We were a very active family: camping, boating, water and snow skiing. There were also trips to Mexico, Canada, the Caribbean, Europe. It also helped that my dad was in the Navy, so my family moved every 2-3 years, and I got to live in many different places, including Cuba.
When I got married and started my own family, I continued to travel. My husband, our three children and I took some great trips: Disney World; Outer Banks; Lake Huron, Canada; Niagara Falls; Deep Creek Lake, Md.; New York City; New Orleans; Rehoboth Beach, Del.; Philadelphia; Fort Lauderdale, Fla., Key West; Wildwood, N.J.; Bahamas. And, my husband and I also had some terrific trips with just the two of us.
It wasn't until 2000 that I was finally able to fully engage in my wanderlust. I had first traveled to Europe when I was 17, and now I was going again. Since then, I have taken many journeys throughout the world. Some planned down to the smallest detail, some with no idea where I was even going to stay the night. All have been extraordinary, and each place I have explored, each person I have met, each sight I have seen, each fragrance I have inhaled, each morsel I have tasted, each breath I have taken, has become a part of me. What a journey it has been so far!
"I soon realized that no journey carries one far unless, as it extends into the world around us, it goes an equal distance into the world within." -- Lillian Smith
New places constantly beckon me. It is like an addiction. Wanderlust. Nomadic.
The travel bug first hit me when I was a little girl watching old Tarzan movies. The explorers tromping through the African jungle and living in huge, canvas tents; the wild animals; the natives with their intriguing dress and lifestyle. The danger, adventure, exoticness. I also loved National Geographic Magazine, not just the photographs, but the articles as well; I would close my eyes and imagine I was right there in that place!
My adventurous spirit was also fueled back in the 1960s watching television episodes of Jonny Quest, the lucky boy who ventured to exciting places with his scientist father. Even though the show was animated, I would watch enraptured and envision myself traveling right along with Jonny and his father.
I was very fortunate that I came from a family that traveled. Growing up, we took wonderful family vacations, and I saw much of the U.S. this way. We were a very active family: camping, boating, water and snow skiing. There were also trips to Mexico, Canada, the Caribbean, Europe. It also helped that my dad was in the Navy, so my family moved every 2-3 years, and I got to live in many different places, including Cuba.
When I got married and started my own family, I continued to travel. My husband, our three children and I took some great trips: Disney World; Outer Banks; Lake Huron, Canada; Niagara Falls; Deep Creek Lake, Md.; New York City; New Orleans; Rehoboth Beach, Del.; Philadelphia; Fort Lauderdale, Fla., Key West; Wildwood, N.J.; Bahamas. And, my husband and I also had some terrific trips with just the two of us.
It wasn't until 2000 that I was finally able to fully engage in my wanderlust. I had first traveled to Europe when I was 17, and now I was going again. Since then, I have taken many journeys throughout the world. Some planned down to the smallest detail, some with no idea where I was even going to stay the night. All have been extraordinary, and each place I have explored, each person I have met, each sight I have seen, each fragrance I have inhaled, each morsel I have tasted, each breath I have taken, has become a part of me. What a journey it has been so far!
"I soon realized that no journey carries one far unless, as it extends into the world around us, it goes an equal distance into the world within." -- Lillian Smith