My first venture out of the US was crossing our southern border from California into Mexico. My father's old Hudson got us there and back on several occasions. I had learned a few words in Spanish in a class at Fremont Jr. High School from a teacher with a Texas accent, but improved by talking with my school chums. So, I was able to practice my language skills during my short visits south of the border. The shops were so colorful and I would save up my baby-sitting money to buy trinkets. I still have the silver-fish earrings that were at first clip-ons later modified for my adult pierced ears. These first out-of-country sojourns wet my appetite for later travel.
Of course, I never even dreamed of flying or sailing anywhere. Father's cousin Florence had married a very wealthy business man who lived in Oakland, California. They traveled all over the world by ship and train putting her diary into a book printed/distributed to family: 'Follow Us' which I have read over and over through the years as my father's copy was passed down to me. Florence wrote of seeing the fine palaces of some of the greatest world leaders which were ultimately destroyed during WWII and she described the building of the San Francisco bridge as she sailed back home: "The most extraordinary bridge is being built."
Once I could finally afford to travel to far off places, I had the 'travel-bug' ensconced in my twenties, nothing could stop me from seeing the world, experiencing different cultures, and always as a 'traveler' never as a tourist. I have found that people are more the same than different. And, the more I see, the more I realize I have yet to visit.
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