| My daughter recently asked me what 'seniors' look | | | | Tahiti and Moorea, Hong Kong and Macau, Italy |
| for when they travel. What do we like to do? Where | | | | (twice), Spain, and London via the Queen Mary II! |
| do we like to go? I've never thought of travel in | | | | I've also made numerous trips to California to visit |
| relation to my age, or my gender. To me, traveling | | | | children and grandchildren in Redlands, Saugus, and |
| has always meant part of the fulfillment of life itself! | | | | Lodi; to enjoy the shopping and dining in San |
| As the child of a career military father, I traveled | | | | Francisco; to bet the ponies at Santa Anita and |
| every two to three years. It was always an | | | | Hollywood Park; to fill myself with 'comfort food' at |
| adventure! But, the drawbacks - leaving friends | | | | Cantor's Restaurant , across the street from my |
| behind and re-assimilating in different schools -- were | | | | parents' old high school, Fairfax, on Fairfax Avenue in |
| always difficult. When my father finally retired in | | | | Los Angeles; to experience Disneyland with all my |
| Hawaii, I was in high school and happy to stay and | | | | children and grandchildren, etc.; to Las Vegas for my |
| put down roots, never realizing that travel was in my | | | | daughter's wedding, several class reunions and just |
| blood! Little did I realize then that I was going to | | | | plain fun; to Albuquerque, New Mexico, to visit my |
| suffer a ten year travel drought! | | | | brother and his good friend and employer, Irma |
| You've heard of 'stir crazy.' Have you heard about | | | | Bailey, a preeminent trader and authority in Indian art |
| 'rock crazy?' Trust me; it can happen when you're | | | | and artifacts, who took us to visit Santa Fe and the |
| island bound! Over the next ten or more years I was | | | | Santa Domingo Pueblo, and then allowed us to shop |
| no more than a bystander watching as Honolulu | | | | through their collected treasures. Last year I |
| Airport moved from Rogers' Field on Lagoon Drive, | | | | accompanied my daughter, Suzy, and her family to |
| to the site of my former kindergarten in Damon | | | | Cooperstown, NY, where I cheered for my |
| Track. I watched and waited as jet engine aircraft | | | | grandson, Justin, who was playing in a baseball |
| replaced prop propelled aircraft. I met friends and | | | | tournament. At the end of the week, my son-in-law, |
| family at the "new" Honolulu International Airport, and | | | | Jim, drove us to Boston. It was a great trip, filled |
| saw them off for their returns home. But, I, | | | | with lots of sights, sounds and great experiences! I |
| personally, no longer had the means, albeit I had the | | | | was honored to be invited. |
| desire, to travel. I had a family with three beautiful | | | | I will be 63 in two months. I mention this only |
| children, and while the family grew, the income did | | | | because it's relevant to my daughter's initial query |
| not. We simply could not afford the luxury of travel | | | | regarding what 'seniors' do when they travel. Most |
| off the island. | | | | recently I visited Washington, D.C., on my way to |
| Then, when my youngest bairn was two, we had | | | | Montecatini, Italy, for a week of treatments at |
| enough money to spend a week on the Big Island of | | | | Grotta Giusta Spa. While in Washington, I fulfilled a |
| Hawai'i. I was thrilled to get back into an airplane, be | | | | dream of a lifetime to visit the Smithsonian and see |
| it ever so small! And, the trip was fantastic! We | | | | the Hope Diamond! Let me be the first to tell you, |
| drove from Hilo to Ka'u, around Southpoint, and up to | | | | there's a smudge on that diamond! I must have |
| Kailua-Kona, stopping along the way to visit the | | | | stared at the revolving display for five minutes or |
| volcano, ocean front lava flows, ancient heiau, and | | | | more, checking different angles for light to disprove |
| black sand beaches. When we arrived in Kailua-Kona, | | | | what I was seeing. Sorry, it looks like a greasy |
| we were stopped by a two-mile backlog of traffic | | | | thumbprint! |
| getting into town, or more accurately getting to the | | | | The next day I returned to the Smithsonian, but this |
| town's one gas station. That's when we learned | | | | time I spent three hours in the National Art Gallery |
| about what has come to be known as the infamous | | | | covertly getting myself lost. I say covertly because |
| gas shortage of the 1970's! | | | | prior to returning to the Smithsonian I visited the Spy |
| A few years later, family finances afforded us the | | | | Museum and took a crash course in Spy 101. I left |
| opportunity to spend about ten days on Maui in a | | | | with documented proof that I am qualified to spy. . . |
| friend's condominium in Kihei. I spent the first five or | | | | I found the thumbprint on the Hope, didn't I? Well, |
| six days alone with the children exploring Lahaina, | | | | anyway, back to being 'covertly' lost. When you're |
| Kahului, and real up close and personal, the cane | | | | 'covertly' anything, no one knows but you what it is |
| fields, when I disregarded my eldest child's map | | | | you're about. So, I spent three hours in the maze, |
| directions and turned off the highway onto a cane | | | | otherwise known as the National Gallery, appearing to |
| haul road that didn't allow room for a U-turn. One of | | | | study and re-study different masterpieces and |
| the big treats on this trip was transiting from O'ahu | | | | exhibits. I was able to find the ladies' room (thank |
| to Maui on the inter-island hydrofoil ferry. This was | | | | goodness) before I found my way out. But, being a |
| one of the earlier efforts to ferry passengers | | | | graduate of the Spy Museum, I did find my way out |
| between the islands. Unfortunately, the ferries carried | | | | . . . without the benefit of an exhibit map that |
| only passengers and cargo - no vehicles. Also, | | | | everyone else seemed glued to. Truth be told, I |
| unfortunately, the hydrofoil was not an economic | | | | couldn't find where the maps were being dispensed! |
| success and soon went out of business. | | | | Washington is a great walking town, and I've always |
| Between this vacation and my first trip to the U.S. | | | | loved to walk! We stayed at the Hilton Embassy |
| mainland, I divorced my husband, beginning five of | | | | Suites-Convention Center, which allowed us to |
| the most economically bleak years of my life. The | | | | covertly lose ourselves in the formal grid of the city, |
| children and I didn't have money, but we found | | | | without seriously threatening our finely honed |
| individual opportunities to travel. I visited Grand | | | | navigation talents - we're members of the U.S. Coast |
| Junction, Colorado, (on a jet aircraft!) at the paid | | | | Guard Auxiliary, after all! By the end of the first day |
| invitation of a dear friend. My son followed suit, | | | | our landmarks were the Spy Museum, the FBI |
| visiting the same friend a couple years later. My | | | | building, the Smithsonian, and of course, our hotel. |
| daughters were fortunate to travel with their high | | | | Whenever our feet and backs threatened to mutiny, |
| school marching band to Mainland gigs. So, we all got | | | | we simply found a nice place (and there are so |
| to experience at least one Mainland trip before the | | | | many!) to have a bite to eat along with a beverage |
| children began leaving home. | | | | refreshment, or vice-versa. |
| Today, I am the only member of our little family | | | | I love to get lost in strange towns! When you get |
| living in Hawai'i. My parents have gone to their | | | | lost and find your way home, you own the town. I |
| reward, my brother and my children found their | | | | think I now own Barcelona, London, Montecatini, and |
| futures on the Mainland. Their travel opportunities | | | | Florence. My traveling companion, Ron, isn't a believer. |
| rose exponentially with their relocation to a continent | | | | He didn't let me 'own' Hong Kong: we traveled to |
| from an island, and I couldn't be happier for them. I, | | | | destinations along routes with which he was already |
| on the other hand, have had to budget my travel | | | | familiar. But, Hong Kong is such a dynamic city, |
| time and resources to accommodate living in the | | | | perhaps it's just as well that he reined me in. And, of |
| middle of the Pacific Ocean. Over the years, I've had | | | | course, the language barrier for an American is |
| to tone down my dreams of travel adventures to | | | | significantly more serious in Asia than in Europe. |
| accommodate a body that is riddled not so much by | | | | For me, I suppose travel has always meant exploring |
| advancing age, as by the follies of my youth: a | | | | new sights, new tastes and new languages. It |
| herniated disk that put the kibosh on whitewater | | | | promises the joy of being able to lose oneself in a |
| rafting and learning to ski. | | | | place, in a culture and well, in the moment, for |
| Nevertheless, I have put enough time and resources | | | | whatever time, no matter how brief, that one can |
| together - sometimes with some help from a special | | | | devote to travel. |
| friend -- over the past twenty-odd years to travel to | | | | |