Travel

The Gift of Travel

I was gifted a plane ticket to Paris last Christmas because I asked for travel credits. It really hadn't been my intention to go to Paris or pay for a full-priced fare. So, when I received the gift, I did what I typically do, I said "ah, thank you" and later returned it. My family knows me well enough now that I can't fake joy from a gift if I'm not feeling it. I'm trying though.

Nevertheless, I had been longing to get back to Italy after a trip there with kids the year or two before. We've always made it a priority to travel with the kids, but some of them, even in their older years, don't like to be away from friends, fun at home or their creature comforts (read: the gym). Yes, I was influenced also by TikTok and the scores of "what I eat in a day" in Rome, the European top 10 destinations and "la dolce far neinte" content. But, I really wanted to get back to spend more time in Rome and to feel more of the local spirit since I was only there a few days with more demands the time before.

I'm one who always has her next destination in mind or pines over travel content, shows, videos, magazines. I had been watching air fares to Europe for months before Christmas and was seeing fares from $500-700 to various places in Europe in February. My home airport only has two direct flights to Europe and flights typically run $1500-2500. $500ish was a steal for this market. I mapped out two itineraries -- one going to Zurich and down to Italy. Another was to travel to Milan, hit the Ligurian Coast and then go to Rome. The only hitch was that I wouldn't pull the trigger. Too much time, not enough money, too many things to do. So, I just kept watching the fares, no longer having a plan or even intention. And, then, boom, Christmas Gift to Paris. My husband insisted that he would only return the Paris ticket if I picked another destination and booked a flight. So, the fares stayed low (maybe because it was dead of winter) and I used frequent flyer miles (aka Amex spending) to buy a ticket. What I realized was that the real gift wasn't the flight, it was the gift of time to go away for two weeks in the middle of school and work and life and winter.

The other part of the gift of travel for me though is that it gives me something to look forward to. In the darkest, dead of winter, when the days were short and the nights were long, I imagined and planned all the things I would do on my trip. The time finally came and I did it. I took the trip, savored every moment and was thankful every day that my family supported it from packing lunches, doing pickups to groceries, errands, meals, laundry and the rest.

I'll always choose travel at the expense of nearly anything else material. I hope you have someone(s) in your life who can support that time away. And, if your dream isn't travel, I hope you have a way of making it happen whatever it may be.

When Life Gives You Lemons, Go Abroad

I missed the chance to study abroad the summer before my Senior year of college when a loan I had applied for didn’t come through until I was ready to go back to school in August. Fast forward a year with a degree in hand and a longing to visit the places I had studied in years of French, literature, music and art history classes.

I made a plan to work for the summer waiting tables so I could earn enough money to pay for a plane ticket, Eurail pass and modest meals and lodging (read hostels). I think I made enough that summer to pay for a $1000 plane fare, $500 train pass and $40 per day in expenses including food, entertainment and lodging. I had to set aside some money to pay for student loans, then booked my trip and I was off. My first stop…Paris. It was mid October. I had just gone to my first Homecoming as an alum at my alma mater and my throat was wrecked. With a huge pack on my back and no advance reservation, I used my trusty map and Let’s Go travel guide to find available lodging in Paris. The accommodations were seedy but I had a place to stay in the city of lights where I’d head out the next day. The next day I ventured out to the place that was very first on my list for all of Paris…Notre Dame. As I was walking, I spotted it from across the river on a cool, crisp morning and the sight of it brought tears to my eyes. I could hardly take in its magnificence–the scene to which so many of my French fantasies were set. I soaked it up, walked my tail all over the city, taking in as much as I could on my shoestring budget. After a few days traipsing through the City and its environs, I went to the Louvre. By then I was so famished I could barely get myself off the bench of the entrance. I stuffed down what I budgeted of my baguette and had enough fuel to get to my highlights of the Louvre. Phew. I did it. 

By that time after graduation my friends had all, or mostly, taken jobs or gone on to graduate programs. So I knew if I was going to get my European travel in I had to go it alone.  While no one wanted me to take a solo trip abroad, I was happy I did. I met people at every hostel, picked where I wanted to go, could join people when I wanted and go my own way when I didn’t. I connected with a friend who was studying Art and Architecture in Florence. We made our way to Sicily and the Aeolian Island of Lipari on her one-week fall break. I took the Sound of Music tour in Salzburg and did a Mozart revelry in Vienna with Canadians who were favorites of the trip. I hitch-hiked in the Loire Valley with a French-speaking Canadian named Sophie. I found the most unbelievable villa-turned-hostel to stay on the French Riviera where I walked to Monaco and visited St Paul de Vence. Germany and Prague, Venice and Interlaken and back to Paris for a final hurrah. It was a whirlwind trip but one that just whet my appetite for a future of wanderlust.

When I returned from my adventure, it was back to the local University’s computer lab where I sat for hours a day, researching companies, contacts and sending out my resume. Thank goodness I bumped into a friend of friend there who said she was leaving a PR internship with a local tech company that needed another intern. I interviewed and took the job making next to nothing. It was a 100-person company and my job would be split between PR with the head of PR and a newly hired CMO from HBS. For the first several months, I was organizing and filing trade journals in a minuscule set of shelves they called a library. I wrote some press releases that were mostly re-written. I ran errands in a borrowed car. It was very unglamorous. But, all of this is to say, don't wait. Take the trip to Europe, work for free, meet the right people, work hard and trust the process. You never know what's going to turn up. I didn't have a choice. I had to go to Europe after college to fulfill a decade-long dream. When I landed that first job I realized it wouldn't have been available any other time. I landed exactly where I needed to be when I needed to be -- with amazing people, in a genuine culture of kindness with real friendships and learning tech early as I cut my teeth.