"To get away from one's working environment is, in a sense,
to get away from one's self; and this is often the chief advantage of travel
and change."
Charles Horton Cooley
I travel because I am curious. I have a desire to see new things, experience new tastes, and meet new people. But I also travel for the chance to broaden my mind. We learn more about ourselves, when we learn more about the world and its people.
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| A mother and daughter in Bejing, China |
I also think that the more of the world you see, the more you understand the differences in people, and you become more accepting. There is so much bigotry in the world, but traveling helps to open your mind to people who are different, and to ideas that are different. You realize that really we are still very much alike.
But of course, there are many reasons to travel. Business takes people to other places all the time. Some people have to travel, even if they don't enjoy it. And I do know people who would never go anywhere, they are happy staying at home. That is fine for them. I love my home, but would be bored to death if I just stayed here all the time. Even when we are home, we are on the go, quite often to the beach.
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| Halong Bay, Viet Nam |
For me, deciding where to go next is not a problem, it is anywhere I haven't been yet. My husband pretty much leaves it up to me, he'll go anywhere, but he wants me to make the plans, which is fine. It is what I did for a living for many years, and I enjoy it. He occassionally will say something about wanting to go somewhere. For instance, he spent a year in Viet Nam during the war. Now a lot of people would not want to go back to Viet Nam, it has bad memories for some. But like George says, "everyone's war was different". He was on land, with a medical team, providing medical care to the local people in the city of Hue. He would love to go back and show me the beautiful countryside that he saw while there. And now, Viet Nam is a tourist destination. I got excited about it when I watched a special on TV that showed Halong Bay. So now that is on our list, and it is something that we will definitly do in the next couple of years.
I'm forever watching the Travel Channel, and shows such as Samantha Brown and Rick Steves. I get ideas for places I want to go from seeing things on the shows. And I get travel magazines and buy travel books whenever I can.
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| Venice, Italy |
I seldom plan a trip back to an area that I have already been, although some areas do overlap, so I may end up back in a city I have been to before, just because it is there in the same area and it makes sense to use it as a base to fly into or out of. The exception to my not returning to the same place will come in 5 years. For our 25th wedding anniversary George surprised me with a trip to Italy, a place I had always wanted to go. We have decided that for our 50th anniversary we will return to Italy. We may cover some new territory in Italy, but we most definitly will return to both Rome and Venice. We have some wonderful memories of that first trip, and we plan to create some new ones on the new trip.
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| Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe, Africa |
I would also like to be able to say that I have visited every continenet, but I haven't. We have of course visited Europe and Asia, and North America. We have covered those 3 pretty extensively. I can say I have been on the continent of Africa, because I have been to Morocco, but that hardly counts. Next year we will be able to really claim that continent, as we plan to visit Kenya, Tanzania, Zanzibar, South Africa and Zimbabwe, all in one trip. I have not yet visited South America, although I have things on my list that would take me there, I just haven't made it yet. I have been to Belize in Central America, but very briefly. I also have not been to Australia and New Zealand, both places my husband has been. He went to those places when he was in the Navy, and again, he says he'd really like to return and show me those places. They are on the list. I may never make it to the continent of Antartica, but my husband has also been there. He did a year in the navy, stationed at McMurdo Sound on Antartica. It was a long year of separation for us, when our daughter was quite young. There are cruises that do make a stop in Antartica, so who knows, maybe someday we will do that.
In the meantime, I do have enough things on my list to keep me occupied for a few years, and I already have some new things to add to the list as I cross things off.
So, why do you travel and where do you want to go?
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