I usually plan two trips a year. For the past few years I have had two places to look forward to going to at the end of the quarter every year. I realize as I write this that this is a privilege but I also want to make it explicitly clear that this privilege is not lost on me.
We traveled a lot when I was a child. My parents are from Arizona but my siblings and I were all born in Chicago. To me this was the best of both worlds. I was able to live in and grow up in one of the best cities in the world but then in the summer time we would go to the dessert for a few weeks and then to the mountains to live and interact with a multitude of different people, races, ethnicities, foods, and people.
Even when I grew older and we moved to Texas we would make the drive across the expansive vastness of the Texas landscape each Summer and Christmas to visit my Grandparents and the rest of our extended family. I credit these trips with my being able to feel comfortable anywhere. My extended family network and their network of friends is multicultural and so, as a quiet child, I would spend most of these trips sitting and listening and gleaning from those around me. (I was a stay in the house and read a book kind of kid. Not a run around in the yard kind of kid…until they made me go out there lol.)
But those were not the only trips we took. My parents were obsessed with us learning about and experiencing all that the world had to offer. We have been on cruises and driven cross country. We have seen Niagara Falls, Mount Rushmore, both Disneys, all the Sea Worlds (before they added Virginia and Pennsylvania weirdly. Yes, this does include the now defunct Ohio park), the Macy’s Day Parade, Las Vegas, both coasts, and the Grand Canyon.
We have been to historical forts and painted forests, the Smithsonian and the Gateway Arch Museum, Hitsville U.S.A. and Paisley Park. Our trips have been on US soil and a few other countries as well and we did it together – my parents, all the siblings, and sometimes the Grandmothers too.
These trips taught me a few things: 1.) Planning a trip requires research 2.) Quality of life/living on the trip is important 3.) A flexible mind and heart is necessary and 4.) If you do it, right trips can be relatively inexpensive but luxurious.
So welcome to the travel portion of this show. I am mourning the missed opportunity to travel this year but I’m excited to share with you what I love most.
Feel free to ask me any questions you have and I will do my best to answer them.
Welcome Home Love 