When my brother and I were little, we had a globe. Our dad and mom used to give us a country’s name and then we had to find it. Playing Search the Globe was fun -- and being 3 years older, I could beat my brother most of the time ;) We learned so much about World Geography in relation to where we lived.
Our grandparents gave us books on far away places --- France (Madeliene), Africa (Rudyard Kipling), England (knights and dragons). We watched movies --- Bedknobs and Broomsticks, Rescuers Down Under, Blue Hawaii. Teachers exposed us to Christmas around the world and taught us how to do the Hula. How could a little girl from the South, not want to travel and experience different cultures?
I was about 13 when my family first ventured from the South.... to Colorado. I can still remember my first response when I saw the Rocky Mountains (majestic -- is the only word to describe it, just like the song). We went up the mountain in "white out" and my dad kept saying as he was driving "those are just bugs hitting the windows". Yeah pop, right? Ha ha. The Sundown Motel was a beacon in the night on that trip. Dad took my brother and me on a snowmobile trip over the Continental Divide in a snowstorm on Thanksgiving day - Awesome trip.
My next trip "out of the South" was to California with a school group and two of my closest childhood friends. I hadn't been on a plane since I was a baby until then. A giddy 15 year old headed to LA, What was my mom thinking. We meet boys from Canada (asked them if they had cable TV, how naive can you get?), Jamaica, and Pennsylvania (they all talked funny and told us we were the ones with accents - bless their sweet hearts). For three little girls from Louisiana, Los Angeles from a bus window was a wonderland.
Since then, I have traveled extensively throughout the US and even went away to college --- Texas (a whole different country in the US). At college, I met a kindred spirit. He asked me to go backpacking through Europe. I wasn’t that brave -- then. If he could do it, I could (it's a competitive thing). Because of him, I became brave and adventurous and found my favorite country, Scotland. I went to visit him while he was in school there. It was my first non North American journey. 14 days in picturesque Scotland, what a way to peak a future world traveler’s interest.
The cementing for my wanderlust was the best site in Europe, the first time I realized I was IN Europe -- exiting the Trocadero Metro station and seeing the Eiffel Tower in Paris. I have traveled extensively in Europe - even backpacking and roughing it. I also wandered down to New Zealand and took a road trip. So many countries and continents, so little time.
Spinning the Globe now... Where to go next?
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