How It All Began

Travel has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember.  The first flight that I vividly remember being on was a family trip to Quebec City when I was in Kindergarten (so age 5).  My memories are vague, but I recall my older brother (I have 2) allowing me to sit next to the window so I could see everything as we took off and landed.  I remember ordering ice cream, in French.  I remember watching Rescue 911 in a hotel room.  That's about it.

The next two trips would define my desire to travel: I turned 6 in Whitehorse, Yukon, and 7 in Darwin, Australia.  I didn't realise back then how lucky I was.  Or how out of the ordinary our travels were. 

My dad was raised in the Yukon so going up there wasn't a novelty to him.  I don't remember why it was that we were there in July '89 (a conference, perhaps) but we were.  I remember being exhausted and it closing in on midnight but it was still light out.  My brother had to explain why that was (I have great brothers, by the way!).  I know that I thought it was funny that I would turn 6 with a bunch of strangers at the university campus.  But I also thought that this was normal.

Australia was amazing, my memories are still vivid.  My dad did a 6 month sabbatical, so the rest of us went over for 4 months.  I missed May and June of Grade 1 in Canada, though we were actually in school for a large part of our time there.  We started the 4 months with snorkelling in the Great Barrier Sea, we took a side trip up to Bali, Indonesia (I'm thrilled to have gone there before it become as commercial as it is now) and we drove who-knows-how-many-miles from Darwin to Ayers Rock and back.  I climbed it, in sandals, at the age of 7.  I thought that this sort of trip was normal.

It took me a while to figure out that sacrifices were made in order for our family to travel.  And it took even longer to realise that people have different priorities; that not everyone has the desire to see different places or celebrate a birthday somewhere random (I have some interesting ones - along with 6 and 7, 14, 15, 20 and 21 were all in places away from home).  The urge to travel was handed to me on a silver platter by my parents, for which I am eternally grateful.