What inspired me to travel? I was lucky. My mom had a travel agency in New Jersey when I was a kid. We got to go on loads of cheap “fam trips” in the 60s and 70s. We were the family that got asked, “so…where you going THIS time?”
But as college and jobs and a new wife who thought New Jersey was exotic came into view, I forgot the adventure that came with roaming about the world.
A true story. My new (first, not Stacia) wife, who had spent most of her life in So Cal, went with me to New Jersey and actually said, “we should go to that bar along the Jersey shore beach…oh darn, we didn’t get money changed.” Really. THAT is far from a present and adventurous mind set.
And then I realized one day, working a Wall Street job, even from San Francisco, I was the only one who didn’t want to just go to Cabo or Hawaii. And I definitely found myself feeling like I was finally getting settled as the vacation week ran out. That there’s only so many cervezas to dull the pain of a very stressful job. And I was tethered to a person who simply couldn’t “just go”.
So I kept the job, told my Wall Street partners that vacation is defined as 2 to 3 weeks at a time…and I jettisoned the wife.
Looking back, the big catalyst and brightest star came from finding a mate that was of like mind and spirit. Someone who reminded me that “it is not the things you do in life that you’ll regret, but rather the things you don’t do that you’ll regret.” At the time, we worked together in business, then, as now.
One day, I returned to my desk and found a tiny origami bird on my desk she had folded…and a note. It read, “Dear Birdie. You cannot explore new oceans until you lose sight of the shore.”
I had been getting up at 2:00 or 3:00 am for a decade. I was sleep deprived and medicated to sleep, medicated to stay awake, and had the means to say, at the apex of my then career, buzz off. We’re going to choose a different path. And so we did…
For three children, 49 states, nearly 100 countries, we’ve gathered photos, stories, memories and people we’ve met that fill volumes. The trail rolls forward and the tales never end.
But the greatest books we’ll ever write are these. There is no price for the memories they contain.
No where in there is the word, “someday.”
Thank you Stacia