Travel Styles

Julia Child and I seem to have more in common than I originally imagined. She writes "Once upon a time I was a contented single woman, but now I couldn't stand it"... With Sylvain in France, I'm missing my built in buddy. But what especially rings true is her relationship with her father and her trip through France and Italy with him. "But this wasn't real travel, as I saw it... in fact, I didn't like traveling first class at all...none of it seemed foreign enough to me."

Of her father she says, "The poor man couldn't wait to return to California, "I'm so happy at home, where I've got my nice house, my friends, and I can talk the language." When we returned to Paris, I fell into Paul's arms and squeezed him tight. It struck me how utterly divorced I had become from old Pop and his type- moneyed, materialistic, not at all introspective- and how profoundly and abysmally stupefyingly apathetic his world view had rendered me."

I haven't done a lot of traveling with my parent's but I've done enough to know we are a very different style traveler; growing up we spent our vacations at the cottage- which was perfection- so it wasn't until I graduated from high school that I really went on a trip with my parents. We went to Seattle and drove to Vancouver, it was a NADA trip and we ate fancy dinners on boats and took a small 6 seater plane to a nearby island for a memorable meal. But at 18 they cramped my style, we both tried to please each other but I don't think it was a hit for either party- they insisted on going up the space needle, I had no interest and tried to sit it out, they insisted so I acquiesced and they tooled around art museums they had no interest in seeing. Two years ago I went to Africa with my dad, going to Africa was a dream of mine for a while and I was lucky to have the first class experience we had on safari, but I was disappointed we didn't get to go to Cape Town and Jo'burg, there was so much cultural history and exploring to do I felt having traveled so far it was a mistake not to take it all in. My parents aren't materialistic but they do like to travel in the style of a tour group.

I'm not sure if my world travels have rubbed off on them but upon returning to the states after hiking Mt Kilimanjaro my dad expressed an interest in going to India. I almost fell off my chair. Years earlier my parents visited me in London- I had never seen more awkward travelers- during their visit we took the Eurostar to Paris for the day- the tickets were outrageous since they hadn't been booked in advance, but my dad reasoned this would be the only time my mother would ever have the chance to go to France. It's not that they wouldn't have the money, or ability, I just don't think my dad felt like there would be any reason to bother.

I want to go on trip with my mom someday. I don't imagine it will be the trip of a lifetime- after all, I've summitted Kili- but my mom travels yearly with her mom, sometimes her excuse is that it will be the last opportunity to travel since my grandma is getting older and isn't as mobile as she used to be... although I wouldn't tell her that.

I'm sure it's my grandmother's lifetime of traveling that inspired me. She went to africa and asia constantly when I was growing up. My mom has not always been so supportive of some of the travels I've taken, "You can't do everything" she'll say; but the thing is, I watched my grandmother go everywhere, so I knew you could- the difference being, my grandmother and I wanted to and so we did/do, I think for the most part, my parents like their house, mom would worry if she couldn't speak the language, and they both worry about catching flights and all the logistic stuff. Today's modern travel is worry free, you just go on Kayak.com and find a cheap deal- then click purchase. Let the adventure begin... love it or hate it, the stories will bubble to the surface, the fleas, the diarrhea, the nights spent freezing in a Madrid subway, the near muggings, new friends and major accomplishments.

I suggested we take a cooking class in Provence... food is always the best way to make a memory.