“The world is a book, and those who do not travel only read a page," said Saint Augustine. I'm many chapters into a lifetime of travel, a story I never want to end.
I just finished my own 5+ week trek driving thru the Eastern USA up to visit all the Canadian Maritime provinces before returning to my new home in Kansas.
I am (sadly) estranged from my own mother and her entire side of my family. And they all hail from Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. The time had come for me to go there and if I cannot meet or be with the people, I could see where they came from.
I was able to find the home my mum and her brothers grew up in. And tour around, eat lobster and breathe the air where they grew up. It’s the only way I knew to find closeness to my family who don’t want to know me.
Road trips have a way of giving me time to really think inside my own head and help me work out a lot of problems I cannot see resolutions to. I need them.
As for a song about traveling, my step-mom’s parents went around the world on a cruise ship twice. In addition, they traveled all over. They visited so many countries and experiences. They inspired me to want to travel.
Their song as a couple was this one:
🎼🎶 “I love to go wandering
along the mountain track,
And when I go wandering -
my knapsack on my back.”
It is probably a folk song from long ago. I love this song.
Thank You, Jodi, for this thoughtful comment and sharing these stories. I have been traveling myself this summer and so missed this comment. I do appreciate you for sharing here. As it turns out, a very dear friend of mine is from Cape Breton. I am so glad you were able to go there and find family members and know the closeness to your family you longed for. I so get what you mean about road trips. I took my first solo road trip when I was on the big island of Hawaii and it was a courageous adventure that gave me, as you say, lots of opportunity to work things out in my head (and heart). Thanks, too, for sharing the song. It is very fitting for my recent travel adventure, the walk on the Camino. Happy travels!
Great song list. Just heard “Horse with No Name” over the weekend and recalled how much I always liked its lovely melancholy. And Lord Huron was the sound track of my life in the lead up to my divorce. Except the overplayed and sickly sweet “The Night We Met” 🤮.
From one Long Island girl to another, I am so happy to see you traveling again. I can “hear” the joy and light in your words.
Also. I’m so sorry for the loss of your Mom. I so enjoyed reading & learning a bit about both of your parents. Love how you reflect on their courage through the lens of their time. That *was* a big deal for your mom to get on a train and go to the Big Apple. And such courage for a Jewish girl to marry a non Jew. A big deal even sometimes today. You come from strong stock, Amy.
Thank you for this comment, Rosemary, I'm so glad we're in sync on the music and that you appreciated the stories about my Mom and Dad. Having discovered just recently a packet of love letters from Dad to Mom in 1959, shortly after they met and leading up to my birth 11 months later, more stories are coming. My dad was a writer, so not only do I come from strong stock, I have ink in my veins. And yes, thanks, my sister Long Islander, for recognizing the joy travel gives me. More adventures to come, and share here in coming months.
Well I just cannot wait to read what you’ll have to share after you walk the Camino!
Amy - this essay is so rich and moved me so much. I admire your adventurous spirit and love how you make mention of how you & your ex-husband raised your girls with a gusto for exploration.
You found your footing by always moving them. I love that. Meandering through your decades has sprung up so much rich writing material. I agree with your other readers- keep drawing from that well and write from there.
And when you are back in Narragansett, RI next year, if time permits, I’d love to meet you in person. I’m about 45 minutes out. Not far. 💗
Thank you for this note, Allison. And what a wonderful phrase, to find one's footing my always moving them. I will keep drawing from that well. Destinations is the new/old "D" in 3-D that is speaking to me most urgently now, along with Discovery. And yes, I will certainly make time to meet you in person when I am in RI. That would be wonderful.
Your story is like a beautiful mosaic of memories, each piece reflecting a different corner of the world. Isn't it amazing how life's little twists and turns, like that chance encounter at the bar, can set the stage for such an adventure-filled life?
Mmmm, yes! And adventurous journey of the soul! I was just reading the "Love Letter to the Adventurer" in preparation for tomorrow's lesson. It is quite the wild adventure!
Oh my traveling sister, how I hear you & resonate!♡ I so love that you and Marielle will walk the Camino together ❤️
I've traveled solo to 30 countries on 5 continents so far, and lived in Belize a year as I facilitated my volunteer literacy project. So far, Iran has been the most hospitable experience back in 2015 for the Storytelling Festival. Forever grateful.
I miss International travel at this time and feel such a strong pull to head out. But current caregiving of my mom and unknowns about next steps for her plus my own uncertainty in paid work have me not yet making overseas plans. I am deeply aware, you're aware of this liminal space. ♡
I am hopeful that come September I can make a personal pilgrimage to visit Moselle, Guntzviller and a few other small towns in eastern France & western Germany, perhaps Lucerne area of Switzerland to see with my own eyes where three branches of my ancestry converged.
I also wish to go to Iceland, though I feel that requires a travel sister due to the expenses.
And so at this time, I do short trips enjoying more fully locally while also feeling I just don't resonate with the Lehigh Valley in Pennsylvania. I tell myself, this is for now. And that is ok.♡
I am always impressed to hear of your wide and unusual traveling (5 continents including Iran, a place few of us get to visit.) I wish for you the opportunity to make those future travel plans, and hopefully that wonderful ancestry pilgrimage in September. It is hard to remind ourselves that everything/every circumstance has divine timing when we are eager to get o the road. One day I would be glad to join you as that travel sister in Iceland. I've only made the briefest of visits to its hot springs while on layover via Iceland Air and would love to explore the country with you. I admire your wisdom in reminding yourself, this is for now and that is okay. You are a wonderful human, my friend.
Thank you for imbuing this same wanderlust in Marielle and I 😍 you and pappa showed us so much of the world in our early years and I am beyond grateful for it. Certainly, it’s a privilege and a way of giving back is sharing stories from your travels, encapsulating the madness and excitement of it all. Can’t wait to hear all about your pilgrimage with Marielle! 💕 I will be hiking with you in spirit.
There's always somewhere beckoning, inviting, welcoming. Only in three airports yesterday and managed all three, and two flights, with a degree of aplomb that impressed me, even being a "seasoned" traveler used to dealing with their schedules and logistics. Both flights were packed with travelers of all sizes and conditions, plus too much of their stuff jammed into overhead bins. If you're a fan of aiport codes, yesterday was BJX to ATL to BOS. Dealing with customs in ATL was a breeze because Gobal Pass. Bag arrived on time on the right carousel and had to be wheeled over for transfer. Checked into Logan Hilton last night and woke to a beautiful view if Boston's skyline this morning. I will write about this trip later and post it here and like you, I want to continue a life that includes travel until I can no longer. Not sure when we were bitten by the travel bug but it's one itch I am glad to continue scratching. This is a mere 10 day jaunt to visit kids and grandkids and enjoy some special places along the way. Nantucket today!
Gary, you captured the happy chaos of travel so well in this comment and I look forward to reading about your trip. I am very fond of Boston, having attended Simmons University there in the late 70s/early 80s. Enjoy the time with your kids and grandkids. And Nantucket! I haven't been there in awhile but it is so beautiful.
Wow! I am super glad you wrote this and honored by your mention and travel memories, Amy. This is a book in the making. Rich storytelling and memoir too. Just some ideas. You could incorporate foods you’ve discovered on your adventures as well. Costa Rica looks so magical! Keep exploring, wonder! Keep writing.
Thanks for this encouraging comment, and you are right about incorporating foods. I think my daughter and I would make a good partnership on that front when it comes to my upcoming time in Spain, as I have celiac disease and follow a vegan diet and so would be gathering all the best vegan/gluten free options and she's an adventurous omnivore and foodie who would cover everything else. And do put Costa Rica on your travel bucket list and reach out before you go for my best tips!
Good morning, Amy! You are so welcome. It’s a treat to follow others travels. I’d love to experience Costa Rica. Noted. Thank you for the offer to share travel tips. On food, There are so many vegan possibilities now sometimes just requires some curiosity and creativity. I’m an omnivore and foodie myself but have tried veganism and was a vegetarian for about a decade. “Life is a daring adventure or nothing at all.”-Helen Keller. Can’t wait to read your next installment!
I just finished my own 5+ week trek driving thru the Eastern USA up to visit all the Canadian Maritime provinces before returning to my new home in Kansas.
I am (sadly) estranged from my own mother and her entire side of my family. And they all hail from Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. The time had come for me to go there and if I cannot meet or be with the people, I could see where they came from.
I was able to find the home my mum and her brothers grew up in. And tour around, eat lobster and breathe the air where they grew up. It’s the only way I knew to find closeness to my family who don’t want to know me.
Road trips have a way of giving me time to really think inside my own head and help me work out a lot of problems I cannot see resolutions to. I need them.
As for a song about traveling, my step-mom’s parents went around the world on a cruise ship twice. In addition, they traveled all over. They visited so many countries and experiences. They inspired me to want to travel.
Their song as a couple was this one:
🎼🎶 “I love to go wandering
along the mountain track,
And when I go wandering -
my knapsack on my back.”
It is probably a folk song from long ago. I love this song.
Thank You, Jodi, for this thoughtful comment and sharing these stories. I have been traveling myself this summer and so missed this comment. I do appreciate you for sharing here. As it turns out, a very dear friend of mine is from Cape Breton. I am so glad you were able to go there and find family members and know the closeness to your family you longed for. I so get what you mean about road trips. I took my first solo road trip when I was on the big island of Hawaii and it was a courageous adventure that gave me, as you say, lots of opportunity to work things out in my head (and heart). Thanks, too, for sharing the song. It is very fitting for my recent travel adventure, the walk on the Camino. Happy travels!
Great song list. Just heard “Horse with No Name” over the weekend and recalled how much I always liked its lovely melancholy. And Lord Huron was the sound track of my life in the lead up to my divorce. Except the overplayed and sickly sweet “The Night We Met” 🤮.
From one Long Island girl to another, I am so happy to see you traveling again. I can “hear” the joy and light in your words.
Also. I’m so sorry for the loss of your Mom. I so enjoyed reading & learning a bit about both of your parents. Love how you reflect on their courage through the lens of their time. That *was* a big deal for your mom to get on a train and go to the Big Apple. And such courage for a Jewish girl to marry a non Jew. A big deal even sometimes today. You come from strong stock, Amy.
Keep going. Keep traveling. Keep writing. ✍🏻
Thank you for this comment, Rosemary, I'm so glad we're in sync on the music and that you appreciated the stories about my Mom and Dad. Having discovered just recently a packet of love letters from Dad to Mom in 1959, shortly after they met and leading up to my birth 11 months later, more stories are coming. My dad was a writer, so not only do I come from strong stock, I have ink in my veins. And yes, thanks, my sister Long Islander, for recognizing the joy travel gives me. More adventures to come, and share here in coming months.
“Ink in my veins.” 🖤💙
Me too - my dad was also a writer. 💛
Thank you Jodi, that ink runs thick, doesn’t it?
“Ink in my veins”
❤️ it.
& I can’t wait to read more about the love letters. That may be the most romantic thing I’ve heard about in a long time.
Well I just cannot wait to read what you’ll have to share after you walk the Camino!
Amy - this essay is so rich and moved me so much. I admire your adventurous spirit and love how you make mention of how you & your ex-husband raised your girls with a gusto for exploration.
You found your footing by always moving them. I love that. Meandering through your decades has sprung up so much rich writing material. I agree with your other readers- keep drawing from that well and write from there.
And when you are back in Narragansett, RI next year, if time permits, I’d love to meet you in person. I’m about 45 minutes out. Not far. 💗
Thank you for this note, Allison. And what a wonderful phrase, to find one's footing my always moving them. I will keep drawing from that well. Destinations is the new/old "D" in 3-D that is speaking to me most urgently now, along with Discovery. And yes, I will certainly make time to meet you in person when I am in RI. That would be wonderful.
Dear Amy,
Your story is like a beautiful mosaic of memories, each piece reflecting a different corner of the world. Isn't it amazing how life's little twists and turns, like that chance encounter at the bar, can set the stage for such an adventure-filled life?
Thank you!
What an exciting life of travels and adventure you’ve lived! I’m a bit of a homebody and I’m enjoying living vicariously through you.
And what an amazing experience you gave your girls who grew into women who cherish worldwide adventures like you!
I enjoyed the journey you took us on, and as always, I love your writing!
Thank you Deb, happy to provide vicarious travel experiences:-) With you, I continue to have an adventurous journey of the soul--thank you for that!
Mmmm, yes! And adventurous journey of the soul! I was just reading the "Love Letter to the Adventurer" in preparation for tomorrow's lesson. It is quite the wild adventure!
Oh my traveling sister, how I hear you & resonate!♡ I so love that you and Marielle will walk the Camino together ❤️
I've traveled solo to 30 countries on 5 continents so far, and lived in Belize a year as I facilitated my volunteer literacy project. So far, Iran has been the most hospitable experience back in 2015 for the Storytelling Festival. Forever grateful.
I miss International travel at this time and feel such a strong pull to head out. But current caregiving of my mom and unknowns about next steps for her plus my own uncertainty in paid work have me not yet making overseas plans. I am deeply aware, you're aware of this liminal space. ♡
I am hopeful that come September I can make a personal pilgrimage to visit Moselle, Guntzviller and a few other small towns in eastern France & western Germany, perhaps Lucerne area of Switzerland to see with my own eyes where three branches of my ancestry converged.
I also wish to go to Iceland, though I feel that requires a travel sister due to the expenses.
And so at this time, I do short trips enjoying more fully locally while also feeling I just don't resonate with the Lehigh Valley in Pennsylvania. I tell myself, this is for now. And that is ok.♡
Cheering you on Amy.♡
I am always impressed to hear of your wide and unusual traveling (5 continents including Iran, a place few of us get to visit.) I wish for you the opportunity to make those future travel plans, and hopefully that wonderful ancestry pilgrimage in September. It is hard to remind ourselves that everything/every circumstance has divine timing when we are eager to get o the road. One day I would be glad to join you as that travel sister in Iceland. I've only made the briefest of visits to its hot springs while on layover via Iceland Air and would love to explore the country with you. I admire your wisdom in reminding yourself, this is for now and that is okay. You are a wonderful human, my friend.
Thank you dear friend. ♡
Oh yes, let's explore Iceland together, that would be Wonderful!♡
I know you will be with us in spirit, Sara, and here’s to more travel adventures ahead! And we’ll always have Paris💗
Traveling heals
Indeed it does!
Thank you for imbuing this same wanderlust in Marielle and I 😍 you and pappa showed us so much of the world in our early years and I am beyond grateful for it. Certainly, it’s a privilege and a way of giving back is sharing stories from your travels, encapsulating the madness and excitement of it all. Can’t wait to hear all about your pilgrimage with Marielle! 💕 I will be hiking with you in spirit.
There's always somewhere beckoning, inviting, welcoming. Only in three airports yesterday and managed all three, and two flights, with a degree of aplomb that impressed me, even being a "seasoned" traveler used to dealing with their schedules and logistics. Both flights were packed with travelers of all sizes and conditions, plus too much of their stuff jammed into overhead bins. If you're a fan of aiport codes, yesterday was BJX to ATL to BOS. Dealing with customs in ATL was a breeze because Gobal Pass. Bag arrived on time on the right carousel and had to be wheeled over for transfer. Checked into Logan Hilton last night and woke to a beautiful view if Boston's skyline this morning. I will write about this trip later and post it here and like you, I want to continue a life that includes travel until I can no longer. Not sure when we were bitten by the travel bug but it's one itch I am glad to continue scratching. This is a mere 10 day jaunt to visit kids and grandkids and enjoy some special places along the way. Nantucket today!
Gary, you captured the happy chaos of travel so well in this comment and I look forward to reading about your trip. I am very fond of Boston, having attended Simmons University there in the late 70s/early 80s. Enjoy the time with your kids and grandkids. And Nantucket! I haven't been there in awhile but it is so beautiful.
Wow! I am super glad you wrote this and honored by your mention and travel memories, Amy. This is a book in the making. Rich storytelling and memoir too. Just some ideas. You could incorporate foods you’ve discovered on your adventures as well. Costa Rica looks so magical! Keep exploring, wonder! Keep writing.
Thanks for this encouraging comment, and you are right about incorporating foods. I think my daughter and I would make a good partnership on that front when it comes to my upcoming time in Spain, as I have celiac disease and follow a vegan diet and so would be gathering all the best vegan/gluten free options and she's an adventurous omnivore and foodie who would cover everything else. And do put Costa Rica on your travel bucket list and reach out before you go for my best tips!
Good morning, Amy! You are so welcome. It’s a treat to follow others travels. I’d love to experience Costa Rica. Noted. Thank you for the offer to share travel tips. On food, There are so many vegan possibilities now sometimes just requires some curiosity and creativity. I’m an omnivore and foodie myself but have tried veganism and was a vegetarian for about a decade. “Life is a daring adventure or nothing at all.”-Helen Keller. Can’t wait to read your next installment!