The Magellans catalog arrived today. It always reminds me of how I love to travel. As a kid we did family trips and they were fun and always somewhat educational. We always drove in the car. Once we took a plane to Miami for a cruise. It was the last family vacation we ever took. We all had a great time because my parents let us roam around the ship. It wasn't too big and they knew we were somewhere on board.
When I was in college, I spent a fair amount of time on a bus to Boston or train to NYC. When I finally had a car at college (actually it was a small pick up truck with a stick shift - I was awesome), I would drive the back roads down to school. I would open the crank windows and play whatever music the radio had (there was no tape deck). I would drive through little Pennsylvania towns, into New Hope, and then over the river and through the woods to... Wait a minute... I remember my senior year, my brother was getting married on a Friday. There was a hurricane coming and I had to get home in the truck. Thankfully the spark plugs had been fixed the week before, because before they were fixed, every time the spark plugs got wet, the truck stalled. So many of my regular roads were flooded, I had to keep adjusting my course. I basically knew I had to get north and then west, but I had to go east a few times to find roads that were open. The next day was beautiful. It didn't even look like there had been a storm.
After college were the years of my extensive traveling. I didn't have a passport at first, and I was a bit afraid of flying after 9/11, but I went anyway. To Austria to visit a friend. I cried when I saw the Alps. I took a train to a plane to Munich, met my friend and then drove to Innsbruck. She pointed out "her mountain." I didn't understand that was where she lived, on her mountain. We explored and hiked. That year I gave up buying shoes for Lent and only bought one pair - in Italy near the Austrian border. I heard Easter Mass in the church in Innsbruck and then took the train to Vienna. On the day I left to come home, I saw the sun rise in Vienna and set over New York. It was a long day of traveling, via train, bus, plane, and subway.
And then I moved to NYC, by way of California of course. Thus started a 5 year adventure of traveling. I spent my summers in California by the beach. I went to Norman, Oklahoma for weeks on end. Countless colleges and universities. I spent time in a little town in the south of France. I heard the Cardiff Singer of the World competition in Wales. And then there was the cruise around the Mediterranean. Did I mention that this was all for work?
After what I thought was my last summer in California, my husband (then boyfriend) and I decided that we would drive back east. We placed an add on Craigslist - responsible 20-something couple looking to drive your car from LA to the NYC (or somewhere in the vicinity). We got a few takers and we settled on a Black Toyota Camary. We piled the car full of my stuff and set off across the country. Sequoia, Yosemite, Grand Tetons, Yellowstone, Badlands, Black Hills, Field of Dreams, Chicago, Ithaca. Then Katrina hit and fuel prices skyrocketed. We made it just in time.
After that, my travel became more personal. We went to DR for a few days in the sun. Costa Rica may have been one of my favorites, hiking through rain forests. Two weeks in Argentina (was it swine flu that he got on our last days?). Bermuda for the honeymoon (why were we at a resort for families?). And Greece. How we loved our adventure in Greece. We traveled with some friends for part of it. We experienced a Greek wedding (with it's amazing food and pasta at 3AM). It was our last big trip before we wanted to start our family.
Sometime in the last week, I read a blog (I've been reading a lot of blogs recently) and it was about changing your perspective. Traveling is a great way to do that. To see something for the first time. The way a child does. Just thinking about traveling makes me feel alive. To remember all of the things I've seen and done. To rejoice in the adventures that I've had.
This summer we'll attempt our first trip with the little one. We plan on driving to Chicago to see Pearl Jam (she will not be going with us to the concert). We plan on stopping along the way to see friends and to see a few sights along the way. I hope it will be the first of many trips for our family. I hope that my daughter will come to love traveling as much as her parents do.
When I was in college, I spent a fair amount of time on a bus to Boston or train to NYC. When I finally had a car at college (actually it was a small pick up truck with a stick shift - I was awesome), I would drive the back roads down to school. I would open the crank windows and play whatever music the radio had (there was no tape deck). I would drive through little Pennsylvania towns, into New Hope, and then over the river and through the woods to... Wait a minute... I remember my senior year, my brother was getting married on a Friday. There was a hurricane coming and I had to get home in the truck. Thankfully the spark plugs had been fixed the week before, because before they were fixed, every time the spark plugs got wet, the truck stalled. So many of my regular roads were flooded, I had to keep adjusting my course. I basically knew I had to get north and then west, but I had to go east a few times to find roads that were open. The next day was beautiful. It didn't even look like there had been a storm.
After college were the years of my extensive traveling. I didn't have a passport at first, and I was a bit afraid of flying after 9/11, but I went anyway. To Austria to visit a friend. I cried when I saw the Alps. I took a train to a plane to Munich, met my friend and then drove to Innsbruck. She pointed out "her mountain." I didn't understand that was where she lived, on her mountain. We explored and hiked. That year I gave up buying shoes for Lent and only bought one pair - in Italy near the Austrian border. I heard Easter Mass in the church in Innsbruck and then took the train to Vienna. On the day I left to come home, I saw the sun rise in Vienna and set over New York. It was a long day of traveling, via train, bus, plane, and subway.
And then I moved to NYC, by way of California of course. Thus started a 5 year adventure of traveling. I spent my summers in California by the beach. I went to Norman, Oklahoma for weeks on end. Countless colleges and universities. I spent time in a little town in the south of France. I heard the Cardiff Singer of the World competition in Wales. And then there was the cruise around the Mediterranean. Did I mention that this was all for work?
After what I thought was my last summer in California, my husband (then boyfriend) and I decided that we would drive back east. We placed an add on Craigslist - responsible 20-something couple looking to drive your car from LA to the NYC (or somewhere in the vicinity). We got a few takers and we settled on a Black Toyota Camary. We piled the car full of my stuff and set off across the country. Sequoia, Yosemite, Grand Tetons, Yellowstone, Badlands, Black Hills, Field of Dreams, Chicago, Ithaca. Then Katrina hit and fuel prices skyrocketed. We made it just in time.
After that, my travel became more personal. We went to DR for a few days in the sun. Costa Rica may have been one of my favorites, hiking through rain forests. Two weeks in Argentina (was it swine flu that he got on our last days?). Bermuda for the honeymoon (why were we at a resort for families?). And Greece. How we loved our adventure in Greece. We traveled with some friends for part of it. We experienced a Greek wedding (with it's amazing food and pasta at 3AM). It was our last big trip before we wanted to start our family.
Sometime in the last week, I read a blog (I've been reading a lot of blogs recently) and it was about changing your perspective. Traveling is a great way to do that. To see something for the first time. The way a child does. Just thinking about traveling makes me feel alive. To remember all of the things I've seen and done. To rejoice in the adventures that I've had.
This summer we'll attempt our first trip with the little one. We plan on driving to Chicago to see Pearl Jam (she will not be going with us to the concert). We plan on stopping along the way to see friends and to see a few sights along the way. I hope it will be the first of many trips for our family. I hope that my daughter will come to love traveling as much as her parents do.
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