I am certain that I was born with the passion for the travel , it is in my blood.
When I was very young if you asked me what i wanted to be when I grow up, my answer was always the same..I wanted to be an Explorer.
I could picture myself in the Amazon jungles, or in the most exotic places in the world... finding new places and learning news customs..
I must admit that I had a great immagination, but I always wanted to go and be free, maybe it is in my sign,Acquarium, but i am like a butterfly, and if you clip my wings I probably die...

Ooops I mispelled a word......

There were faint hints when I was 12 and my family toured the East Coast and Quebec City. However, I don't think I was completely hooked until I took my first trip abroad. I was a sophomore in high school.

Remember being in Hong Kong as a kid visiting chinese relatives, sneaking out into the kitchen in barefeet, to stare out at all other skyscrapers all lit up and hearing the distant traffic making a low buzzing noise, feeling hot because of the heat and yet feeling cool breeze across face, not being able to remember home as it seemed to distant and weird and just loving that feeling of being miles away from home but being excited about the lights, the sounds and the warmth of the air !

My dad worked for the Santa Fe RR and we moved from Topeka to Galveston to Chicago. We went to California on the Super Chief and I went back and forth to college on the Texas Chief. So I loved travel, but as a French major, I had but one goal in life--to get to France, which I finally did after college. I lived in Paris for a year and a half and every day on the way to work the metro would rise up out of the ground and I could look out and see the Eiffel Tower, and I thought to myself how lucky I was.

When I was 13 my Mom took me on a 14 countries in 10 days deal and I can't say that hooked me on travel, I remember old castles with narrow steps and a lot of time in the bus. But it was very nice of her to take me.

When I was 20 I heard about Semester at Sea, where you take college classes on board the ship and went literally around the world. I wanted to do that but we didn't have a lot of money so I dropped out of school and worked for 6 months, saving my money and got a work study scholarship. Seemed like a lot of money but it hindsight - I think I took that whole trip for $2000! (1978) We left from LA, went to Hawaii, Tawain,Korea, Singapore, India, Kuala Lumper, Greece, Egypt, Spain and Morrocoo in 4 months at sea, ended up in Baltimore. I think Semester at Sea is still in business.
That put the wonderlust into me. Got married, had kids, never had enough money for overseas travels, but we always packed up the car and saw places like Colorado, Mt. Rushmore, Washington DC. Always wanted to go back, but there was always something else to see.

Next year I'm taking my kids to Italy. Life insurance money and I think my husband would approve. But all the planning and reading this is making me want to travel more! This trip is a big one, but I see now that I could travel overseas more for shorter times, my kids will be 16 & 14 so maybe they'll be enough money left for another trip to Paris before they are gone.

Then when they go, I'm going to New Orleans by myself! (Someplace my husband and I always wanted to go after the kids were gone)