*Image by Irene Suchocki (find it here)
The travel bug. It hits us all at different times in our lives. It also goes through many peaks and lows…usually heightened about 2 weeks after getting home from a vacation…exploration…worldly experience. Experience being the key word here.
My travel bug first hit me in my teens when I was “forced” at the time to take a cross country trip with the fam. We drove from the west cost to the east coast by way of the south (being a SoCal gal, NYC for the first time was a true adventure:) Then in my early twenties I took my first trip to Europe with my Aunt. Oh…the USA was great in my teens…but traveling through Europe for the first time was entering into a whole other world…and a much larger bug bit me…big time.
What I remember most about traveling is not the lovely scenery…or historical landmarks…or the beautiful tropical beaches, but the people and the journeys that were spontaneous and usually came about due to being “lost” in a different country and not being able to read the signs. Versailles…I remember the lady I met waiting for my Aunt outside of the ladies room. I talked to her, for what it seemed like, for hours. She, in her beautiful French accent proceeded to tell me the lesser known facts of the kings and queens who resided in the palace ( juicy and scandelous details:). Italy, I remember "tailgating" in front of the Uffizi with The Hubster at dawn with no one in site because we forgot to get reservations…but I had to see the Botticellis in person before I left Florence so I had to be the first person in line...and I was:). Getting off at the wrong station in Rouen but stumbling upon one of the oldest churches in Europe and seeing where Joan of Arc was executed. All these things…not on the “itinerary” but they are some of the moments that I have captured and put in my little scrapbook in my head for me to call upon from time to time.
The point of this long tale? Well…traveling is an experience…one that I love and share with my husband and friends and family members who are willing to enjoy with me. I love spontaneous adventures that bring me into the place where I am a visitor. Their grocery stores, little hole in the wall restaurants, bars, flea markets, anything that will add a page to my scrapbook and give me a travel bug bite to continue.
AFAR…amazing new mag that was founded by Greg Sullivan…king of spontaneous traveling. A sort of Anthony Bourdain (lurve, lurve him!!! Uhm…did I say that I lurved him?)…but not just all about the food and liquor. He has created a magazine that inspires you to think outside of the box when it comes to traveling. His writers not only travel to Paris to show you the sites…but become an “apprentice to a boulanger and learn the secret to a perfect baguette”. Work at a school…help out a village…learn and perfect the perfect way to serve up street food that beats the heck out of any fancy shmancy restaurant. This is the mag that will give you those ideas and resources that will make it happen.
So…I have a love of magazines…sad to say…a lot of my favorites usually don’t make it (RIP…Violet, Blueprint, Wondertime)…but this one has to. Inspiration to traveling in a whole new way will not only open our minds and hearts…it will make us all into “citizens of the world” as Brad and Angie always say. This bug bite…is a good one:)
My travel bug first hit me in my teens when I was “forced” at the time to take a cross country trip with the fam. We drove from the west cost to the east coast by way of the south (being a SoCal gal, NYC for the first time was a true adventure:) Then in my early twenties I took my first trip to Europe with my Aunt. Oh…the USA was great in my teens…but traveling through Europe for the first time was entering into a whole other world…and a much larger bug bit me…big time.
What I remember most about traveling is not the lovely scenery…or historical landmarks…or the beautiful tropical beaches, but the people and the journeys that were spontaneous and usually came about due to being “lost” in a different country and not being able to read the signs. Versailles…I remember the lady I met waiting for my Aunt outside of the ladies room. I talked to her, for what it seemed like, for hours. She, in her beautiful French accent proceeded to tell me the lesser known facts of the kings and queens who resided in the palace ( juicy and scandelous details:). Italy, I remember "tailgating" in front of the Uffizi with The Hubster at dawn with no one in site because we forgot to get reservations…but I had to see the Botticellis in person before I left Florence so I had to be the first person in line...and I was:). Getting off at the wrong station in Rouen but stumbling upon one of the oldest churches in Europe and seeing where Joan of Arc was executed. All these things…not on the “itinerary” but they are some of the moments that I have captured and put in my little scrapbook in my head for me to call upon from time to time.
The point of this long tale? Well…traveling is an experience…one that I love and share with my husband and friends and family members who are willing to enjoy with me. I love spontaneous adventures that bring me into the place where I am a visitor. Their grocery stores, little hole in the wall restaurants, bars, flea markets, anything that will add a page to my scrapbook and give me a travel bug bite to continue.
AFAR…amazing new mag that was founded by Greg Sullivan…king of spontaneous traveling. A sort of Anthony Bourdain (lurve, lurve him!!! Uhm…did I say that I lurved him?)…but not just all about the food and liquor. He has created a magazine that inspires you to think outside of the box when it comes to traveling. His writers not only travel to Paris to show you the sites…but become an “apprentice to a boulanger and learn the secret to a perfect baguette”. Work at a school…help out a village…learn and perfect the perfect way to serve up street food that beats the heck out of any fancy shmancy restaurant. This is the mag that will give you those ideas and resources that will make it happen.
So…I have a love of magazines…sad to say…a lot of my favorites usually don’t make it (RIP…Violet, Blueprint, Wondertime)…but this one has to. Inspiration to traveling in a whole new way will not only open our minds and hearts…it will make us all into “citizens of the world” as Brad and Angie always say. This bug bite…is a good one:)
Find Afar magazine here.
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