How I Traveled

I live in a place where most of the residents have lived in Texas for more than 70 years and don’t know much about any place else. A few took cruises – one couple went on more than 15! Another couple lived in an rv and traveled all over the U.S.

A few have been to Europe. Elizabeth proudly recounts her 12-day, 6-country tour with a guide who told her “all about everything I saw.”

I am lucky. I lived in five states. My children went to school in Illinois, Texas, Michigan, and Pennsylvania. Then I lived in New Mexico for more than 20 years.

Each place we lived we explored. When my husband was transferred to Texas in 1966, we brought with us a family who knew nothing about the state where I grew up. The first week we were in Dallas, I took the children to see the museums in Fair Park and enrolled them in classes at the science museum. Then I made a big map on posterboard and set it up in the kitchen. In the next four years we marked out our travels all over the state, from Parker’s Fort in East Texas to the Santa Elena Canyon in Big Bend.

But I didn’t get to Europe until I was middle-aged. Then I made up for 50 years of day-dreaming.

I traveled far and often. I never counted the trips. I always read about the place I was going to visit, history, literature, biographies of famous people, etc. I looked forward to seeing paintings and churches I had seen reproduced in books on art and architecture. Then when I finally arrived in Athens or Florence or Istanbul, I was always surprised by something unexpected. Each journey was a new adventure, bringing new discoveries even in places I had been before.

I talked to people. I listened. I learned from every person I met.

I still talk to everyone. A lot. I tell stories about my travels. People here at this retirement home asked me to give programs about my trips.

Several told me they dreamed of going to Italy. So we are going there this month. Starting this week, every Monday at 3:00 p.m. we will gather in the living room, and I’ll take them on an arm-chair journey. First stop: the magical city of Venice.