In a previous blog I shared my collection of passports —a long line of documents that began when I was sixteen. These booklets, with their photos that reveal my gradually aging face and random visa stamps in red, green, and blue, represent a lifetime of travel. I also have a large box of travel journals, some on loose stapled sheets, some in the form of letters written home, and others neatly penned in bound journals and sprinkled with sketches. I treasure all these memory boosters.
Recently, I went through my collection and created a list of all the major travel experiences I have enjoyed in the last sixty plus years. The list includes all my travels that required a passport and a few significant stateside journeys. I’ve already written at length about my 2001 trip with my sister, Una, to India. A few of my other adventures may appear in future blogs. Do any of them spark your interest? Which ones would you enjoy reading about?
My Personal Travel Time Line
Summer 1960 – Europe with parents and 7-year-old sister, Karen
1966/67 – Graduate studies at University of the Americas, Mexico City, (inc. car trips to Yucatan and Acapulco) with Ron L.
Summer 1968 – East coast U.S.A. and cross-country drive on my own in VW van
Summer 1970 – Cross country car trip with Tom
September 1971 to September 1973 – “The Big Trip” in VW van with Tom, featured in Wherever the Road Leads.
October & November 1974 – Japan, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, The Philippines, and Bali with Tom.
March/April 1981 – Singapore (to meet Tom), Hong Kong, 3-day tour to Guangzhou, and meeting my mom and my 5-year-old daughter, Erin, in Hawaii.
October 1982 – Hong Kong cooking class and Hawaii, to meet my mom and Erin
Feb. & March 1985 – New Zealand with Tom, Erin (age 9) and son Ethan (18 months old).
December 1989/January 1990 – Denmark with my sister Una, for a family wedding
Summer 1990 – Family motorhome trip to East Coast, including picking up our 4th Danish au-pair in New York and bringing her home with us through North Dakota, etc.
April 1991 – Germany with my parents and Una to visit my father’s hometown.
Summer 1993 – Family trip to Hawaii
October 1994 – England to meet Erin, and continuing Denmark to visit my nephew Mike.
Summer 1998 – EuroPatrol. Leading teen Girl Scouts with three other adults, including Erin. Add to that a family trip with Tom, Erin and Ethan to Denmark to visit friends and relatives.
Spring – 1999 – New York City with a girl-friend.
February 2000 – England with Erin to interview my aunt Edith.
January 2001 – Elder Hostel to India with Una, plus train trip on our own to Girl Guide World Center in Patna. (See Return to India blogs)
April 2001 – Family trip to Hawaii
February 2002 – Girl Scout/Girl Guide trip to London with Erin, and a small group of leaders and one girl.
March 2002 – Elderhostel to China and Macau with Tom
February 2003 – Elderhostel train adventure in Australia with Tom
March 2004 – Chile with travel companion.
Summer 2004 – EuroPatrol. Leading teen Girl Scouts around Europe with Erin and another leader.
April 2006 – Chile with a travel companion.
September 2008 – Big Island, Hawaii with a girl-friend.
April 2009 – New York city with a girl-friend.
June & July 2010 – Northern Italy with a friend, Switzerland on my own, then join a Girl Scout patrol for a week and on to Denmark to visit my nephew Mike
April and May 2012 – Paris, the Dordogne, and Barcelona with a travel companion.
September 2014 – Home-exchange in Provence, France and road trip from Barcelona to Madrid with a travel companion.
April 2016 – Home-exchange in Brittany, France, and Road Scholar trip to Normandy and Brittany with a girl- friend.
April 2017 – Viet Nam with my daughter, Erin.
October 2017 – Milan, Venice, and House exchange in Paris with Ron (new partner, sculptor and illustrator of the Caitlin series of early-reader books.)
May 2018 – Sailing in Antiqua with Ron.
Summer 2019 — Car trip with Ron to Colorado and the Pacific Northwest to participate in art shows and visit my son Ethan.
* * * * *
In a few days I will be setting off on my first international trip since 2019. Two weeks in Belize—snorkeling, sailing, and swimming with my family. This is the first time I have planned an adventure that includes my adult children (my son Ethan, his wife Eva, and my daughter Erin). I will journal and sketch and take pictures….. and share this adventure with you when I return. Probably no new blogs posts until the New Year!
What journeys from your past stand out? After Covid, are you ready to travel again? And if so, beyond visiting family (which we all want to do), where do you want to go?
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