by Anelisa

Created on: May 12, 2008   Last Updated: October 31, 2008

Life is one big adventure and we only get one chance to explore it. Traveling anywhere at any age intensifies that adventure by challenging us to adept to people and environments we are not comfortable with. To the extent we are able to adept and also widen our perspective we find a certain JOY and WONDER traveling that we find in no other experiences in life. Mankind has never had the opportunity we have to be in place and within hours be across the world. How exciting and thrilling this is!

These traveling experiences enrich our life when we return to our usual environment by assimilating all we learned. It makes us appreciate the people and landscape in front of our nose and also wonder about how many more places we can explore. It almost is a humbling experience since most of us think we know it all and that the only way to do things is our way. Such exhilarating experiences will stay with us throughout our life until the end of life .

Traveling is an informal education and perhaps better but matched with a good traditional education it is at its best. We learn to the extend we know about the people we encounter and their environment. Yet no matter how much we know about the place we're going, it is never enough and must be open to surprise and wonder. I think of the time I brought a girlfriend of mine to Italy and she was an Art Major. She could recognize most of the architecture, sculptors, paintings, and other forms of visual art but she kept saying how everything was so much more beautiful than what she thought. She also knew music so when we went to the outdoor concerts late evening she was in ecstasy. I could hardly bring her to reality when it was time to leave the Colosseum. All the gardens in Italy we visited she enjoyed immensely. Luckily I had relatives and friends in Italy so she got a chance to interact.
The joy she experienced with the people was far more than what she saw. It is over a century and she is still traveling to Europe at least twice a year since her husband also loves traveling.

How we get there is part of the fun. We have to explore what is the best way to get there and sometimes go the same place different ways. I went to Europe by plane and ship many times during the 60's and 70's. Both were a vacation in itself. At that time most of the planes were big and new. The food and drink were even better than most good restaurants. I don't remember paying for anything. People were very relaxed and open to get to know others whether they

• 1
• 2
• 3
• Next Page >>