As a young child, I was never one who liked to go to far from home. But, I caught the travel bug while attending Gettysburg College. I participated in a study abroad program called Semester At Sea, which was exactly as it sounds, a semester (100 days to be exact) traveling around the globe on a retired cruise liner. The program now concentrates its voyages on very specific geographic regions (mainly in and around Europe for safety reasons), but when I traveled we started in the Bahamas and traveled to South America, then Africa, and Asia, ending our trip in Seattle, Washington. We visited countries that were so very different, but yet had threads of similarity. What stuck with me most was how proud people were to share their country and culture with the students.
Semester At Sea taught me to crave local experiences and to find joy in wondering (not just traveling). While the planned excursions were thrilling (including almost getting eaten by a lion while on safari in Kenya), I look back fondly on the experiences had by stumbling onto a local happening or meeting a person who was so very eager to share their culture. My experiences on Semester At Sea taught me to be a confident traveler and to seek out the road less traveled.
Tom and I have had the privilege to travel extensively to some really amazing places. I can't think of anyone I would rather slip slide down a dormant volcano with than Mr. Zarcone. But, I have come to realize that our travel styles are vastly different. Tom never wants to be too far from civilization (or the bar). I am comfortable being a little uncomfortable - I enjoying seeing the more "real" side of a place we are visiting. Tom relates poverty to crime, so he gets very nervous being in high poverty areas when we travel. I see the potential in people who are trapped by poverty, so I don't automatically assume that people are 1) unhappy or 2) going to rob me.
As our children have gotten older, we have tried to instill in them a world view. Camp Hill is their home, but their thinking should not be limited to their experiences had here. It has always been very important to us that the kids have fulfilling travel experiences and learn that their way of doing something isn't the only way.
So, this summer, the kids and I will be packing our bags and heading to Florence, Italy where we will live for the month of June. Don't worry, Tom will be in on the fun too as he will join us for a week. We will be staying in a city flat and enjoying all that Florence has to offer. There will be lots of art museums and gelato. We invite you to follow our travels through this blog as we continue to cultivate the love for traveling in our children.
