Sacrifices for a Lifestyle of Travel

Yes, I know I travel a great deal.

This kind of wanderlust gets many reactions from people. Young and old ask, "How do you do it?" "I want to travel!"

My thoughts to those that care to hear what I have to say is; (you are reading my blog out of your own free will)......Make travel a priority in your life. If you are a young person dreaming of traveling you need to keep the dream alive.

My earliest memories of dreaming of travel started with a water paint coloring book. You know the kind that has the paint dried on the page and you just add water with your brush? Well, this coloring book was about Tahiti. I know I had this coloring book somewhere under the age of 7. I remember the palm trees the hula girls, the ocean and the hibiscus flowers. Good thing they had the paint on the page because I would not have know what colors to paint the ocean of the south pacific nor would I have know what bronzy color Tahitian skin is or what color palm trees are, because I had never seen any with my own eyes. As I put my brush to the page the world of travel came alive for me. I wanted to see Tahiti for myself!

So this was the first seed of wanderlust and I cultivated it for the next 37 years and beyond. I made choices and sacrifices along the way. I chose to go to college and I chose a degree and career that would allow the time and money for travel. I chose to not have children because I felt I could not have this level of freedom, time or finances with children in tow. But that was definitely a personal choice and I have since met people that make travel happen with their kids and enjoy it. (Many from the European continent). I feel that these parents make travel a priority in teaching their children and enriching their lives.

Travel is not for the faint of heart. You have to endure some discomfort in order to experience the magic. One magical moment that I am very found of is when we were in a South African township. Townships are famous for being very dangerous and also of being the home of Nelson Mandela. These townships are poverty stricken often without clean water, sewage systems or electricity. The homes are made of found items like plywood, tarps, and the walls are papered with magazine covers. These homes are just barely larger than a double bed and house 5 people on a dirt floor. Without going into too much African history, politics and culture, I must say this visit really opened my eyes to others and made me reflect on my own history. We were the only "Americans" on this tour of the townships and as a result of our home country we were instant celebrities. The black Africans welcomed us with open arms, with an Ow and an Ahh and they held my hand for an extra long moment. It felt to me that they hoped and wished that American prosperity would rub off on them in that instant. As some of you know, I grew up very poor and I had never seen or realized that any people in the United States lived as poor as I did. I had to go to Africa to find poverty like mine. Experiencing the poverty of others first hand changed me profoundly, somehow my poverty was okay now and something to be proud of,......... after all..... I have achieved the African Dream.