Traveling is in my blood. My father's entire career was spent as a flight engineer with Pan American Airways. I began traveling as an infant, and throughout my childhood I had the good fortune to travel around the United States, to Europe, and to the Caribbean Islands, sometimes with my father as the crew member. I still have the journal I kept on a 6-week vacation through Europe when I was 14 years old. (See the photo above at Stonehenge, long before it was fenced off from tourists!) Since that time, I have made it a practice to keep a journal whenever I travel--jotting down detailed descriptions of the setting, including not only the scenery, but also the people, the food, the language, the way of life as I view it. I cannot imagine trying to write a story about a setting I have not actually visited.
In my career as an author, I have not made exotic trips to other countries, but I have made road trips to a handful of states: North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Florida, Rhode Island, Maine, and, of course, my home state of Maryland. I always view these trips as an exciting adventure and love to visit schools in these various places--to look for the similarities and the differences in rural, urban, and suburban students. As David mentioned in his post, it's a thrill to walk into a school and see a sign welcoming me and a student waiting to escort me to a class!
Happy Travels to all my fellow spuds!
5 comments:
Edie, I loved seeing all the evidence of that PanAm travel in your family home. Like you, I was also lucky to get to Stonehenge before the fences.
Whether travel is to far away places or ones relatively near, it's great just having open senses/an open mind to new locations, people, and experiences.
Edie, I love these photos~ and unlike you and Christy, I did not make it to Stonehenge before the fences. I was still thrilled to visit it though! You do have travel in your blood! Thank you for the reminder of travel journals and all the details that can be kept track of to possibly be used later for stories.
Oh Edie, I too loved the photos from your childhood, and seeing your dad in the prime of his life: a gift to me.
Thank you, Christy, Lauren, and Betsy! I, too, loved pulling out these old photos and seeing my father in his prime.
Edie, thanks for sharing these memories and photos. Travel is "in your blood" and it sounds like you have continued the tradition, even if your explorations are "closer to home" rather than international in nature. I know from reading your work that your personal experience with settings, etc, really shows through in your work!
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