After the events of 9/11/2001, people were concerned about the safety of traveling. The travel industry took a bit of a hit as plans were changed or even cancelled, and it took a while for it to recover. But I’m so glad it did because traveling is such a part of our lives and I would hate to have missed out on the wonderful opportunities we’ve had to explore new places.
DH and I have always enjoyed traveling together. In fact, one thing that was important to both of us before we married was whether our travel styles were compatible. Was I a luxury resort and spa kinda gal? Was he a toss a few things in the back of the truck and wing it kinda guy? Did my mother warn him that I live by the “have toothbrush, will travel” motto? Did his parents instill a love of foreign travel and adventure in him?
As it turned out, we have similar travel styles. We both like to go, but we like to know where we’ll be. You won’t find us heading off without a destination, and since having kids, that’s become even more important to us – that we know there will be a hotel, campsite, or relative’s guest room / floor waiting for us at the end of the day. We like to spend our days exploring, but we like to have some days to just do nothing, just doing that nothing somewhere besides home!
I think that’s why we enjoy cruising as much as we do. It satisfies our need to know where we’ll be, it gives us time and opportunity to do explore and to do nothing. We have seen a lot of places via cruise ship / excursions. While this blog has focused on our time in the Mediterranean, we’ve also been blessed with the opportunities to cruise in Northern Europe (Baltic), Alaska, the Bahamas, and both the Eastern and Western parts of the Caribbean. We’d like to go to Hawaii and Canada and New Zealand and Australia and … well, you get the idea. But in addition to places we can see from a sea-bound ship, we are looking forward to opportunities to experience river cruises where we can venture further inland and explore at less frenetic pace.
Every time we embark on a trip, whether by land, air, or sea, I stop and think about the people on those airplanes a dozen years ago. Were they on their way, or heading home? Did they have a bag full of souvenirs and memories, or were they full of that anticipation you feel at the beginning of an adventure? And I pray for our safety and the safety of others around us as we buckle our seatbelts or stand at our safety drill posts. Because no one should have to go through what those people did. Twelve years ago today, they were confirming flights and packing their bags. Twelve years later, we remember them.
No comments:
Post a Comment