Why travel and how is it different than other travel blogs?

Why include travel in a website meant to showcase my writing? Well, if it’s not fiction, some of my more personal yet interesting anecdotes come from travel. It’s my favorite thing to do outside of writing, reading, and hanging out with a select group of humans. This blog is not a how-to, nor does it contain recommendations. It’s a collection of stories remembered at random and typed into existence.

Prior to the age of 12, I hadn’t done much traveling, unless you count a few family reunion road trips to Arizona or New Mexico, and if you live in Dallas, you mostly see West Texas desert from the back of the car.

My mother remarried when I was 10, and during the second summer of our new combined family cohabitation, they planned a family trip. My mother and I, who had never traveled internationally, have to now admit with embarrassment that we protested the thought of a European vacation. I think I said something like, “Why can’t we just go to the beach?” and my mother, like many untraveled Americans stated, “There are places in the US I’d like to see.”

But my stepfather had been to Europe and convinced us it was worth the long plane ride. So, using a travel agent, because this was the early ‘90s, they planned a trip to land in Frankfurt Germany, take a train to Munich, then a train to Interlaken, a train to Paris, then a boat to London.

My stepsister, who was 15 at the time, was also on the trip. We recently discovered a picture, both of us in bob haircuts, combat boots, and plaid. What can I say? Grunge was a thing, and she lived in Seattle before her move to North Texas.

I'll have to dig around to find the photo album where actual photos of that first trip live. Until then, here's a photo I took in 2012 – you. know, the obligatory photo of the Eiffel Tower - which has come to be the international sign for travel.

I don’t think at the age of 12 I had a full appreciation for the art and monuments I’d seen. It wasn’t until sometime after that trip I watched a movie full of European sights, and with joy, thought, “Hey! I’ve been there! I’ve seen that!” Then, something clicked in my still-developing pubescent brain. Sometime in the following Spring, we began planning our second family trip to Europe. I was excited beyond description, and since then, I’ve been hooked. I even like to fly! I am an AvGeek, who happens to live in the flight path of DFW International Airport. I’m way more excited about seeing the 9 a.m. Emirates from Dubai than my husband is. When not observing planes from the ground, I travel mostly to Europe, one time as far as Russia, sometimes as close as Galveston, with family and/or friends.

So next blog, expect a story about travel. I’ll be sure to note the year, as well as the place, so as the reader, you’re not confused. “Hey, why aren’t they wearing masks? Was the family vaccinated before they went to this crowded place?”