Since my 10-week “Grand Tour” of Europe in 1972, traveling has become a passion. To awaken in a new city in some new part of the world, to wander its streets and absorb a culture other than my own is one of the pleasantest sensations I could ever experience.
The World is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page.
– St. Augustine
St. Augustine, patron saint of brewers, was right on. Traveling requires an open, inquisitive mind because everything you know and have come to accept can be challenged. I am hooked on seeing the world. Travel not only allows us to enjoy the beauty and uniqueness of other people and places, but to appreciate what we have in our own backyards. Wandering, exploring, experiencing other cultures broadens the mind and imparts new vigor to the soul. Each new experience adds a new page to my book of memories and visions.
If you reject the food, ignore the customs, fear the religion and avoid the people, you might better stay home.
– James Michener
So far, I have traveled in all 50 states, to 86 countries, and stepped upon all seven continents. According to 2019 MostTraveledPeople.com, I am ranked in the U.S. as 71st among females, #25 in females of my age range, which goes to show women need to get out more. I travel a lot but am still surprised by stories of adventurous women who travel solo for months, move to another country, or like Sarah Marquis who hiked from Siberia to Australia. I feel dull and sluggish in comparison.
But I have done my share of adventure travel. I am embarrassed to admit I have not been to the Amazon or the Five Stans yet. I plan to correct that oversight. High on my list are countries of Eastern Europe, Madagascar, Bhutan and more of Africa. And always I hope to revisit countries I have not seen since that 1972 trip. In 2016, I took my 17-year-old niece to Spain where the last time I visited Franco was still in power. Since that time, she has developed her own passion for travel and is emulating my desire to explore new terrains.
My goal is to reach 100 countries. Covid definitely put a stall to my travel but not an end to it. My wish is to forever appreciate the world’s richness and variety.
The differences between that 1972 trip and my trips of today? I travel lighter, adore iPhone photography, and wouldn’t leave home without my iPad. I enjoy using the medium of Blogging to re-experience my travels and invite you to use the Tag Search for specific destinations in which you are interested.
Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one’s lifetime.
– Mark Twain
Last updated 1 Feb 2022
