Thursday, June 10, 2010

THE MAGIC OF TRAVEL

Vacations are wonderful things if they provide you with what you need. One requires different travel experiences at different phases of one’s life. You may have loved camping when your children were young, but now perhaps you crave leaving your camping stove at home and taking a cooking class in Santa Fe or even Oaxaca, Mexico.
If you are totally stressed out and exhausted, spending lazy days on a beach letting the sound of the surf polish your jagged edges may appeal to you.
If you are citified and longing for Mother Nature and adventure, then hiking through Patagonia in South America or even the more primitive trails in your home state may be your choice.
At the moment, my daughter and her new husband are in Alaska visiting our son who lives there. She has fallen head over heels in love with Alaska and the fishing experiences she is having. Her first day there, she stood in the ocean for six hours straight throwing out her line without a bite. Eventually, she snagged a salmon and hauled it in and was ecstatic! To my shock, my son informed me that she ate the fish eggs from the newly cut open fish right there on the beach-apparently that is what fisherpeople do. I am amazed that anyone would find joy in standing in waders in thigh high water all afternoon without food, drink or a toilet and then dining on fish roe without the sour cream or crackers. Not my thing, but then again, I don’t have a desk job in an architectural firm like she does where she pores over blueprints and the fine points of design. No wonder the majestic spaces and wonderful smells of Alaska appeal to her!
So dear readers, if you had unlimited time and resources at your disposal, what would your dream travel experience be at this point in your life? Where would you go and what would you do?