Enrich Life with Travel
Dear Girls,
While we live our lives in general comfort, everyday blends together over time and can get boring. I have enjoyed punctuating my life with travel experiences that rip my daily existence into shreds and imprint distinct memories into my mind. Richness of experience is a key piece to a life well lived. Travel is one way to enrich your life.
My first travel memory:
I was 6 years old when I first went to a new country. France was my first stop on a trip followed by Italy with Poppo, my uncle Ray, and my grandpa Nonno John. I remember being amazed at how different everything was. The showers were small. In some places you went to the bathroom in a hole in the ground. In Nonno John’s hometown of Castel San Vincenzo in Italy, I remember hearing a wolf at night and a rooster in the morning to wake us up. I never heard these things at home in Chicago. I also liked the little bit of coffee and hard bread I got from Poppo’s aunt, Zia Filomena in Paris. When Poppo called me over after playing soccer with a boy in Paris I ran to him and did a somersault on the concrete and hit my head hard. That is my first memory of me thinking to myself “well that wasn’t a good idea.”
Study Abroad
I also spent two months in college studying Italian in Rome and traveling around the country in the summer of 2006. It was during the World Cup which Italy won that year. The celebrations were intense. I have never seen such a large gathering of humans in my life on the street and in Circus Maximus. During that trip I visited Nonno John’s hometown, Florence, Cinque Terre, Paris, Amalfi, and all over Rome! Studying abroad was an amazing experience.
Ireland and Love
A defining moment in my relationship with mom was traveling to Ireland with her while we were dating. We spent two weeks together driving around the country and exploring the sights and enjoying each others’ company. We especially enjoyed going to pubs and listening to Irish music. One of the most beautiful places I have seen was the Cliffs of Moher in the west of Ireland. Mom and I walked around there for a couple hours taking in the views and dizzying heights. It is also where I first told her I loved her.
There have been many amazing experiences from smelling the spices at a market in Jerusalem’s old city, walking on the Great Wall in China, watching men in Japan play Pachinko and chain smoke, getting dizzy looking down from the top of the Eiffel Tower.
Change it up
It is important to change your routine in life and traveling is a great way to do it. You will get a new perspective, broaden your horizons, and create memories that can provide you future pleasure. Traveling also has given me a strong sense of gratitude that we live in America in the times we do. Some of the most fundamental things we take for granted in the U.S. is not enjoyed by much of the world. Poppo still to this day laughs at me when on my first trip to France I woke up crying one night because I wanted the air conditioning on. There was none and the idea that a home wouldn’t have air conditioning was, well, foreign.
Travel is not about the destination or completing the trip it is about the journey. It is about new people you speak with, a new dish you try, an idiosyncratic observation that you have not noticed at home. It has also helped me realize despite our differences people generally are doing the same thing in life: trying to make their way. Travel has helped me be tolerant of differing views and cultures.
Travel doesn’t need to be overseas for a long time although I treasure those trips. It can also be to new cities or parks near you. I hope by the time you are reading this we have gone to many places and you also have come to treasure travel and exploring our world.
Punctuate your everyday existence with new experiences. Get out of your comfort zone, get lost, encounter the novel, the ancient, the awe-inspiring. Recognize how small you are in this great big world. Appreciate that others on from another parts of the world: eat, work, play, and LOVE just like we do.
