Travel serves many purposes. My passion for travel was started by Mom. She’s been to countries on six continents. She had a professor who said “If you have money, travel. If you don’t have money, travel.” I had a professor who explained that the best way to learn about your own country is to leave it to experience the rest of the world.
Of course, the experience of culture, food, and people can enrich your life. I’ve also used travel for interpersonal discovery. I once asked a new boyfriend “Hey, next month do you want to go to Lisbon for a long weekend?” Everyone knows travelling is a great way to test a relationship. The correct answer speaks volumes to the gusto, spontaneous nature, and wanderlust that I treasure.
Travel can bring out the best and worst in a person. This pic shows how I got along with current longtime friend Willie when we took a trip to Italy. If a friendship can survive battles outside your comfort zone during stressful travel, it can probably last a lifetime.
The picture looks like you and Willie have already been married for 10 years! Glad to hear you’re still friends. Great advice from you teacher. I once quit my job, converted a school bus to a camper and took the family around the country for 4 months. I think that was start of my mid-life crisis. Spent way too much money but don’t regret it for a second.
“Travel is my life and if I can drive the open road to get there, I will!” Well, that used to be my motto before I reached an age where my knees and hip bother me after a few short hours of driving. However, I do have many wonderful memories of driving and seeing wonderful landscapes, all God’s beautiful masterpieces. I used to think that should I ever be let go of my current job or retired, that maybe I’d begin a career as a long distance truck driver just so that I could see and experience those unexplored parts of the country for which I have yearned and marveled from seeing the pictures in books.