I am, without a doubt, a traveler. Despite trying to fit myself into “normal life” (what is normal, anyways?) for years, I have always been a person who wants to explore somewhere new. Like many Americans, I started off my travel life by stepping one toe gingerly into Europe. As I got bolder, I started traveling through Asia and Oceania. As my confidence grew, I began to venture through Africa and Latin America. Finally, when I couldn’t give any more fucks about “normal life”, I packed up my apartment in Hong Kong and took off for an 18 month backpacking trip around the world.
Throughout all of this, one thing that many people always asked me is how my parents felt about all of this. At first, I never even knew what to say. My mom took me on my first trip to Europe when I was 15. She paid for my study abroad programs during my undergrad. My dad was obsessed with Germany and would drop everything to drive me to New York City so that I could get cheaper flights to Europe. Both came to visit me wherever I lived. I never even considered that this was something that parents wouldn’t support.
Now that we are in the time of Facebook and other social media, I have started to realize how many parents actually DISCOURAGE their daughters from traveling and I have really begun to appreciate the fact that throughout my “traveling career”, there has been very little that has stood in my way. I have a strong passport and had parents that taught me the value of working hard for what I have. From my summers scooping ice cream on Lake Erie to the 3:30 am wake up calls to teach English to little kids in China and everything in between (ie corporate life), I had opportunities to continue traveling because my parents taught me how make my own opportunities and never, ever stood in my way.
Today is an sad day for me as it marks the day that my world changed 10 years ago. I lost my father – my travel buddy, my friend and my inspiration. In a moment of reflection, I look back at everything both my mom and dad gave me and am incredibly grateful that they gave me the greatest gift of all – the opportunity to travel AND the desire to do it. They instilled values in me that no education ever good – the desire to keep learning, growing and understanding.
That was a wonderful tribute. It is terrible to think it has been a decade. I miss all the adventures that could have been.
It is amazing the effect Dad had on our lives. I still associate most of the good times of my life with traveling. I remember him and I planning those visits to see you and Karin off in far flung places. I long for the journeys that we took together.