Hi First name / there,
My mother once confessed that she despised driving past airports, watching planes take off without her on board. She claimed it was because she loved travel, but I suspect she just needed a break from her four daughters. Can’t say I blame her.
Growing up in a family that viewed travel as essential as breathing, I inherited a love for new places. My folks were the ultimate wanderlust warriors; tight budget be damned, they globe-trotted like pros. When we were adopting our youngest from Kazakhstan, our generous friends Tonya and Greg gave my parents Delta Buddy Passes. They flew first class to Moscow to meet their new grandson—a huge treat.
My dad, on the other hand, took his travel bug to quirky levels. Obsessed with Alaska, he occasionally went rogue, “camping” in his car. He’d be off hiking the Grand Canyon or the more remote stretches of South America with my sister and her tribe. My mom set limits there. I draw the line at making any vehicle my bedroom.
As for my travel DNA, I've often wondered if it's in your blood, or not?
Take my Irish grandmother, Marie Hannon Gibbons, who gave up coffee ever year ( not Starbucks, this was the 70's) a to save for a plane ticket for her visits to Ireland.
Or my maternal great-grandmother, shipped as a young child from Italy by her new stepfather, who did not want to raise another mans daughter. I owe a lot to that man. She never saw her family again. She also never left Red Bank, NJ. My Nana, her daughter, fluent in Italian, never seemed to have a desire to visit Italy, or anywhere else outside of New York.
And then there's Sam, whose family roots go so deep in America that his ancestry is unknown. No one in his family traveled, content with an annual jaunt to Jekyll Island where they owned a hotel. The world awaited but they had zero interest. Sam likes to travel, but not to the extremes that I do. On more than one occasion he has said, “no, you go ahead.”
I think that family indeed shapes us, igniting in some fires to get on the next plane out while calming others into staying close to home.
Does your family have roots that feed your desire to travel, or do you lean more towards the comforts of home?
🌍❤️đźŹ
