Europe first came into my mind when in 1992, when my brother, Paul, who is eight years older than me had an exchange student. I didn't know a lot about traveling or Europe other than Paul and Jimi took German and Scott took French. I knew the Berlin wall had fallen the year before. I knew that my ancestors were from mainly Italy, France, Ireland, Greece. I never knew a lot about those places with the exception of the food, but I always dreamed that one day after high school I would get to Europe and travel the world. Ha! If only...
Basically out of high school I became a mom. Traveling wasn't in the cards. We didn't do any traveling when I was growing up (save for Disney World when I was four), so the country I lived in hadn't even been seen my own eyes, let alone other countries. I was 24 the first time I crossed the Mackinac Bridge into the Upper Peninsula. Once my daughter was a little older, I decided I needed to enjoy my own vast state: Michigan. I traveled up the coasts, through the U.P. (not all of it) and saw things here in Michigan I had never had the opportunity to before. I assumed, too, that I was enriching my daughters life in the process. Showing her our great water-filled state, and giving her the travel bug as well.
We went to Virginia Beach when I was 16, and then my brother moved there when I was 22. We would drive down to see him most years, so we did get to see some of the states along the way to there: Pennsylvania, Maryland, West Virginia, Virginia, Delaware, and we even took a day trip to North Carolina once.
When I was 32, I loaded up my dad, my daughter, and my dog into the car, and we drove from Michigan, through Ohio, to Pennsylvania, New York state, to Vermont, then New Hampshire, then Maine, into Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, back into New York, through New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio and back home. It took us about ten days to see it all. I felt honored and privileged to be given the chance to see all that I had. Niagara Falls from the US side, my favorite band in Vermont, lobster rolls in Maine, The House of Seven Gables in Salem, The Boston Commons and where Paul Revere was buried, Times Square, Central Park... SO MANY THINGS! It was inspiring and I knew I needed to see more! Europe was still in the back of my mind... taunting me.
Everyone I know would have assumed I would have headed to England before everywhere else. I watch a lot of British television and movies, I am obsessed with Harry Potter, and I love to speak in a British accent. It's unhealthy really. This fall, I sat down with a pad of paper and started to write out places I wanted to see that are not in the U.S.: Spain, Portugal, England, Germany, Norway, Iceland, Sweden, Switzerland, Italy, France, Scotland, Ireland - the list is really long. And everyone I know keeps going overseas! The last few years have been maddening. I have been so green with envy! My brother went to Greece on his honeymoon, the other went to Antigua on his. SOme cousins went to Greece, co-workers have been to Ireland, Poland, and France. I have been feeling like I need stories to tell! I have lived in the same city my whole life. I want to see more.
Then I got a once in a lifetime opportunity to come on a cruise with a friend and her family. It was in place of someone else who couldn't go. I jumped at the chance without hesitation. For 7 days I sailed around the Caribbean Sea, finally getting to see the world. I went from Miami, to Mahahual, to Cozumel, to Playa del Carmen. I got to eat crazy adventurous things, snorkel next to a barrier reef in the open ocean, and snorkel in an underground cave in the Rivera Maya. I was officially an addict. I can feel the need to travel coursing through my veins.
In October of 2018, while sitting at my desk at work, I decided to just spur of the moment, buy tickets for Italy. If I bought the flights I would never be able to back out. So I pulled the trigger. I booked my first European vacation... And boom! I got invited again only 10 months after the first, and two weeks after I booked Italy, to do another cruise. 8 days around the Western Caribbean: St. Maarten, Puerto Rico, and Haiti. How amazing! I literally cannot begin to describe the things I saw in 2018. It was life changing.
My trip to Italy is booked for March 29, 2019. And here we are today, March 10th. I am taking my girl with me and, in turn, giving her the same addiction. My pulse quickens every time I think about seeing some of the most historic places on planet earth and getting to share it with my daughter. Seeing places established thousands of years ago. Seeing mountainous peaks, volcanoes, fields of poppies, vineyards, ruins, history - oh, and eating some of the finest food there is to eat. Food my ancestors made. Food my family now tries to recreate. Two and a half more weeks and then I will finally get to say I have done it. I have been there. I have traveled to multiple countries and multiple places. That I will have sailed the Caribbean AND traveled to Europe. Official world traveler status. My soul is literally singing.
I have sacrificed so much these last 20 years and now I am finally getting to live this life for me
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