Thanks for another post that made me think. (Sometimes hard to do on Monday mornings!) It's good to see some research that confirms what I had believed all along - that traveling and living internationally is good for you. Just the prescription we need to motivate us to finish planning our next trip.
I chuckled reading your post. I don't think I've ever met anyone else who has seen the corn palace. Three more states and I will have visited them all.
My parents were blue collar workers so my mother worked and took all the overtime she could get in order to pay for us to travel by car (in the 60's and 70's) all over our great nation, even dipping into Canada and Mexico. She ventured overseas to see my sister in Germany twice, flying alone and her only times on an airplane. She instilled in me my desire to travel, to read, to be aware of cultures other than our own and to always embrace experience over items. She grew up dirt poor and really did walk across a mountain to school with cardboard in her hand me down shoes, took lard laden biscuits for her lunch in a tin pail. Married off at barely 16 to a man she had seen only 2 times because she was one less mouth to feed my mother read voraciously and determined to give us a better life. Travel was of upmost importance to her and she would spend every year reading about our next 2 week vacations each summer. She made sure we saw the prairie dogs, The alamo, Mt Rushmore, Adobe huts, Black Hills and yes, the Corn Palace.
She would be so pleased that 2 of her 4 girls have seen a great deal of the world.
Books held the secrets of the world and we took advantage of our local library each and every week.
I suspect we British are set to travel as we want to get a) off the island and b) get to some warm sunshine. I have been lucky to travel a lot but it wasn't an option in the 60s when I was a child (apart from a school trip to Paris and a daytrip to Boulogne.) My first big trip was at 22 when I moved to Maryland for several months where I discovered the joy of meeting people with different food cultures and history. From then I have made an effort to see lots of countries (and different parts of the States with their great diversity). Travel is a joy.
Great post to remind us of the mind expanding value of travel. I am a child of a State department employee and lived outside of the US for tge first 17 years of my life. Spent over 6 months of 2023 traveling. As a post-retiree, I am finding as many people and places to continue my knowledge quest. I definitely feel unlike my non-travwling peers but it's not lonely when I read your words.
I've just discovered your blog and really relate. Gorgeous prose and insightful commentary. My husband and I took a similar path, by retiring early from our jobs in California (where I was a professor at UC Berkeley) so that we could move to Amsterdam pre-Brexit (he's a Brit). We get the benefit of having a real village life and close-knit community in Amsterdam -- everything is within a short walk, so we get to know everyone -- while having all of Europe so close by, with the inspiration of diverse cultures, histories and landscapes. We'll be in VRSA in less than a month (hoping to convince my husband we should spend winters in the Algarve).
Love this post. Totally agree about travel and what it does for our mind and our heart. When we get to know people from different places, nothing seems so 'foreign' anymore - just interesting.
I think overall it's also significantly more affordable to travel here compared to the US. A roundtrip flight from Los Angeles to Seattle could easily be $200 per person roundtrip, whereas here I can frequently find weekend flights for 30-70 euros roundtrip! I've purchased flights that were cheaper than a one-time Uber ride in the US.
Thank you Nancy for another good read! 23% of Americans don't travel outside the U.S. - how sad is that. I was fortunate that in high school, and again in college to be an exchange student to Costa Rica, Spain, and Japan. I believe it was these experiences that opened up my eyes and mind to other cultures, and languages. I look forward to many travels around the world so that I can continue to explore.
Thanks for the post. It reminds me why I love to travel. In the over 70 group, I have been travelling across our boarder since my early 20's. I have also been to 1/2 of the US and there is still more I want to see here... but I am waiting till I get older. Need to fly while I can. NZ may be next
I was fortunate enough to live in Germany for 4 years in my 20’s. (Military). I had a great group of 5 friends and though we were poor, we took every opportunity to travel. I got the bug BAD! I have continued to travel as much as possible since then. I’m now in my early 60’s. In fact, I’m planning a 3 week trip to Europe in October. The experience of living abroad changed my world and my perspective. I’ll continue traveling until I can’t physically go.
For a number of years I sat on the board of The American Institute For Foreign Study’s Camp America and as an administrator of several children’s camps I traveled abroad and hired non-U.S. college students to work as camp counselors in those summer camps I administered. The experiences made my life rich beyond measure and broadened and deepened the relatively narrow perspective of the American children who attended these camps. To this day, forty some years later I remain friends with many of those students I hired and supervised during those years of my life. It was just the beginning of my travel addiction. And between then and now, I have gone to as many places as time and finances have allowed. There are still, and will always be, places on my list that I seek to explore or places beckoning my return. American exceptionalism is not something I was raised with, but rather I was blessed with parents who had a more global perspective and encouraged us to explore the world beyond our borders. For that I am so grateful. Travel feeds our imaginations, makes us more curious, teaches us to be kinder, more patient, more accepting and nurtures an attitude of inclusivity. The places I have visited, the friendships that have held fast over decades, the amazing experiences and the things I have learned have made my life richer than I could have ever imagined before travel.
Hi Nancy,
Thanks for another post that made me think. (Sometimes hard to do on Monday mornings!) It's good to see some research that confirms what I had believed all along - that traveling and living internationally is good for you. Just the prescription we need to motivate us to finish planning our next trip.
Looking forward to your monthly reports.
Mike
I chuckled reading your post. I don't think I've ever met anyone else who has seen the corn palace. Three more states and I will have visited them all.
My parents were blue collar workers so my mother worked and took all the overtime she could get in order to pay for us to travel by car (in the 60's and 70's) all over our great nation, even dipping into Canada and Mexico. She ventured overseas to see my sister in Germany twice, flying alone and her only times on an airplane. She instilled in me my desire to travel, to read, to be aware of cultures other than our own and to always embrace experience over items. She grew up dirt poor and really did walk across a mountain to school with cardboard in her hand me down shoes, took lard laden biscuits for her lunch in a tin pail. Married off at barely 16 to a man she had seen only 2 times because she was one less mouth to feed my mother read voraciously and determined to give us a better life. Travel was of upmost importance to her and she would spend every year reading about our next 2 week vacations each summer. She made sure we saw the prairie dogs, The alamo, Mt Rushmore, Adobe huts, Black Hills and yes, the Corn Palace.
She would be so pleased that 2 of her 4 girls have seen a great deal of the world.
Books held the secrets of the world and we took advantage of our local library each and every week.
I suspect we British are set to travel as we want to get a) off the island and b) get to some warm sunshine. I have been lucky to travel a lot but it wasn't an option in the 60s when I was a child (apart from a school trip to Paris and a daytrip to Boulogne.) My first big trip was at 22 when I moved to Maryland for several months where I discovered the joy of meeting people with different food cultures and history. From then I have made an effort to see lots of countries (and different parts of the States with their great diversity). Travel is a joy.
Great post to remind us of the mind expanding value of travel. I am a child of a State department employee and lived outside of the US for tge first 17 years of my life. Spent over 6 months of 2023 traveling. As a post-retiree, I am finding as many people and places to continue my knowledge quest. I definitely feel unlike my non-travwling peers but it's not lonely when I read your words.
Awesome. I tell people all the time, at least once in your life take a trip far away, it is worth it! Thanks for the read.
I've just discovered your blog and really relate. Gorgeous prose and insightful commentary. My husband and I took a similar path, by retiring early from our jobs in California (where I was a professor at UC Berkeley) so that we could move to Amsterdam pre-Brexit (he's a Brit). We get the benefit of having a real village life and close-knit community in Amsterdam -- everything is within a short walk, so we get to know everyone -- while having all of Europe so close by, with the inspiration of diverse cultures, histories and landscapes. We'll be in VRSA in less than a month (hoping to convince my husband we should spend winters in the Algarve).
Love this post. Totally agree about travel and what it does for our mind and our heart. When we get to know people from different places, nothing seems so 'foreign' anymore - just interesting.
I think overall it's also significantly more affordable to travel here compared to the US. A roundtrip flight from Los Angeles to Seattle could easily be $200 per person roundtrip, whereas here I can frequently find weekend flights for 30-70 euros roundtrip! I've purchased flights that were cheaper than a one-time Uber ride in the US.
Thank you Nancy for another good read! 23% of Americans don't travel outside the U.S. - how sad is that. I was fortunate that in high school, and again in college to be an exchange student to Costa Rica, Spain, and Japan. I believe it was these experiences that opened up my eyes and mind to other cultures, and languages. I look forward to many travels around the world so that I can continue to explore.
Thanks for the post Nancy. Give Denise my love and you take some too. Loved it.
Thanks for the post. It reminds me why I love to travel. In the over 70 group, I have been travelling across our boarder since my early 20's. I have also been to 1/2 of the US and there is still more I want to see here... but I am waiting till I get older. Need to fly while I can. NZ may be next
Great post, thank you!
I was fortunate enough to live in Germany for 4 years in my 20’s. (Military). I had a great group of 5 friends and though we were poor, we took every opportunity to travel. I got the bug BAD! I have continued to travel as much as possible since then. I’m now in my early 60’s. In fact, I’m planning a 3 week trip to Europe in October. The experience of living abroad changed my world and my perspective. I’ll continue traveling until I can’t physically go.
For a number of years I sat on the board of The American Institute For Foreign Study’s Camp America and as an administrator of several children’s camps I traveled abroad and hired non-U.S. college students to work as camp counselors in those summer camps I administered. The experiences made my life rich beyond measure and broadened and deepened the relatively narrow perspective of the American children who attended these camps. To this day, forty some years later I remain friends with many of those students I hired and supervised during those years of my life. It was just the beginning of my travel addiction. And between then and now, I have gone to as many places as time and finances have allowed. There are still, and will always be, places on my list that I seek to explore or places beckoning my return. American exceptionalism is not something I was raised with, but rather I was blessed with parents who had a more global perspective and encouraged us to explore the world beyond our borders. For that I am so grateful. Travel feeds our imaginations, makes us more curious, teaches us to be kinder, more patient, more accepting and nurtures an attitude of inclusivity. The places I have visited, the friendships that have held fast over decades, the amazing experiences and the things I have learned have made my life richer than I could have ever imagined before travel.
Olga! Do you know Romeo? My father-in-law would point to bunch of "retired old men outing out" and call them Romeos....
Olga😜