Q: What countries have you traveled to?
A: England, Wales, Scotland, Ireland, Mexico, Costa Rica, Italy, Canada, Jamaica, Bahamas and the United States of course.
Q: When did you first travel to a different country and why?
A: In high school, my Spanish teacher took a group of students on a trip to Mexico.
Q: Have you ever spent a holiday in a different country?
A: My family and I have spent the Fourth of July in Canada where they have a similar day called Canada Day. We watched the fireworks over Niagara Falls.
Q: Why do you love to travel?
A: It broadens your horizon. It gives you a new perspective. When you meet people who have different ideas, different ways of life, different food, different ways of living, different ways of going about the day, it gives you a well rounded view of the world. It helps you appreciate differences. I know that even though people are different from me and do things different from me, we are still operating in the same world, we are still getting along together, and it is possible.
Q:How is traveling alone different than traveling with someone else?
A: It’s lonely. You don’t have a support system. You don’t have backup and so it’s more challenging because you have to get along by yourself. You’ve got to figure things out on your own and you have to depend entirely on you. You don’t have anybody as plan B. In addition to it being lonely, it does teach you more because you have to learn to get along by yourself.
Q: When you are traveling with a group, who does all the planning?
A: My husband is the planner. My sons and I just go along for the ride mostly. Sometimes we can give our opinions about what we would like to do, but my husband loves to plan how we are getting from place to place and where we are going to stay. I am not very interested in those details, I just like to go.
Q: What country do you plan on going to next?
A: This summer my family and I are going on a cruise to Northern Europe and we are going to see Russia and Germany. We are going to see Denmark and all sorts of great places. We are going to end in Iceland.
Q: What country would you like to return to and why?
A: In a heartbeat I would go back to Italy. I’ve only gone to Rome and Florence. Rome has so much to do and some much too see. I could spend two weeks in Rome alone but there is much more of Italy to explore like Venice, Milan and Sicily. I would love to go there.
Q: What are some of your favorite memories you have made in other countries?
A: Everything is an amazing memory – watching fireworks over Niagara Falls, kayaking in Costa Rica and watching the monkeys swing from tree to tree. We threw coins over our shoulders into the Trevi Fountain in Italy, which is supposed to guarantee that you’ll be back and also traveling through the United Kingdom and visiting castles that are 1,000 years old. That’s the thing about traveling. Since the United States is rather young, going anywhere else and seeing all that history and having it brought to life makes it an amazing memory.
