Travel — The Real Rewards Come Later
See the world — It’s the gift that keeps on giving.
I love travel. I have loved travel, and the concept of traveling, since long before I had the maturity or the means to do so.
As a child, I collected postcards. They were postcards from friends, from family, from friends of family and family of friends. It didn’t matter where the source of my personal postcard stash originated. I even sent away for travel brochures that held the promise of including a scenic postcard from lands far away just so I could expand my collection.
I was fascinated by the great big world outside my humble neighborhood.
My parents never traveled — other than the two years my father spent in the South Pacific during his time in the Navy (hardly a desirable travel itinerary at the time). They were quite content in their comfortable bubble, raising children, going to work or making a home during the day, enjoying favorite TV shows in each other’s company in the evening. Church on Sunday, maybe a bingo or bowling night here or there — these were their preferred forms of distraction.
In my earliest years, my travel fantasies were little more than that — mere fantasies. As much as I might long to see the world, it seemed a goal beyond my reach for quite a while.
Fortunately, life has a way of expanding, if you let it. Solid employment and an adventurous life partner opened my eyes and my wallet to the world.
I remember the first time I saw the Atlantic Ocean. I stood (and still stand) in awe of one of the most magnificent forces on the planet. The ocean has no master and I understand my own insignificance in the overall scheme of the universe when I stand on the edge of the continent.
In the last couple of decades I have been gifted with the opportunity to:
- stand at the base of El Capitan
- gaze at the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel
- take a gondola ride in Venice
- watch Old Faithful erupt
- be mesmerized and astounded by the gorgeous architecture of Barcelona
- see the Parthenon in Athens and the Colosseum in Rome
- sample (too many) wines in the Finger Lakes and the Napa Valley
- walk across the Brooklyn Bridge in New York and the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco
- ride a camel in the Canary Islands (oh yes, I even have it on video)
- watch a whale breach off the coast of Maine
- cross the Peugeot Sound in a ferry boat
- watch the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace
- bask in the sun in Barbados
- ride through the Andes Mountains in Venezuela in a jeep
- walk the quaint streets of Quebec
- see Mount Rushmore
- lose money on slot machines in Las Vegas
- eat freshly made mozzarella in Sorrento
- eat fresh lobster at the annual lobster festival in Rockland, Maine
- see more than one Broadway show in New York City
- visit many of the Smithsonian Institute Museums
I could go on, but I think you get the idea. I have enjoyed a great many travel experiences in this world.
A quirky little thing called a pandemic has thrown a monkey wrench into my travel plans in the last year — I sadly recall that I was scheduled to see a Russian ballet in Moscow as part of the cruise excursion on a Baltic cruise that never transpired.
Since my travel plate is currently empty, I have found myself reminiscing over photos and souvenirs of days and travel venues gone by. Somehow the blues of Santorini rooftops and the purples of French vineyards just want to burst off the screen as I flip through my digital photos.
Something as simple as a bookmark I brought back from a Mexican flea market in Riviera Maya evokes the sights and even the smells of a beautiful culture.
A small painted vase reminds me of an impoverished mariachi band in Tijuana — the band was so poor the drummer only had one drum stick. I was determined to barter for that vase because I thought that was what you were supposed to do. When the elderly vendor told me the price — a paltry $4.00 — I, of course, could not bring myself to haggle my way down a notch. Instead, I gave him a five dollar bill and told him to keep the change.
I am richer because of my opportunities to see so much of the world. Strange as it may seem, at least to me, the down time I have been forced to endure while the world has been largely shut down due to the pandemic has opened my eyes even more to the rich gifts of travel.
It has been a good thing to take a step back and acknowledge just what this beautiful world has to offer. But the longing to hit the road is great. The first minute the doors to travel are reopened, I promise you I will be in line at airports, cruise ships, museums and national parks. I will sample unusual foods and interact with people who may see the world differently. I will leave footprints in the sand and wishes on the stars.
When the world is ready for me — I will be more than ready for the world.
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