Traveling Fool

Over Memorial Day Weekend, Jim and I - as is our custom - headed east to the tiny Oregon town of Spray to watch their rodeo. Spray boasts a population of about 150 people, but it swells to nearly 15,000 over the Memorial Day Rodeo weekend! There is one motel, with only five rooms, and in-town camping facilities for about 30 trailers. The rest of the folks camp either in "nearby" towns (meaning anywhere from 40 to 50 miles away) or in the Umatilla National Forest. And that is where we choose to camp.

To add to our enjoyment, we took the grandkids with us this year, leaving on Thursday. Ada's mommy and daddy joined us on Friday evening, and my sister and brother-in-law arrived on Saturday. The kids were not particularly impressed with the rodeo, but did enjoy seeing the animals and definitely enjoyed the freedom of playing in the forest! We arrived home on Monday, exhausted, but with lots of happy memories.

Upon my arrival home, I found an email from one of my eFriends, commenting on our recent travels to Europe, and outlining her adult children's travels, along with a few of her own. She closed her email with a question: "Don't you think it would do most people good to travel outside the US to see how others live?" (I do hope she doesn't mind that I'm blatantly using her comment in my blog!)

I've thought about that over the past couple of days, in light of our recent European travels as well as our trip across the US last year, and even this past weekend in a small Oregon town. And I've come to the conclusion that travel of any kind is good for us. It opens our minds and broadens our horizons. It keeps us from becoming too comfortable with our way of life, and it challenges our assumptions.

By encountering people of different cultures - whether it be a foreign culture, or just the culture of a different region of our own country, or a town of a different size - we frequently come face to face with people whose ideas are opposed to ours, but who hold those ideas with the same fervor we feel. By taking on the role of guest in another culture, we have the opportunity to experience what it is like to be in a minority position - language, religion, government policies, food preferences - the list is long! - and to be for a short time in a position that is outside our usual comfort zone.

I am a woman who is not known for being submissive or feeling insecure. However, in a foreign country, or even in Spray, Oregon, I am much less assertive than I am in my "natural" environment. I am aware that I am a guest (with all that this status implies, thank you , Mom!), and I am always aware that my views on everything from politics to religion to the environment may be diametrically opposed to those whose space I have invaded. It makes me listen more carefully, examine my own comments more carefully - perhaps even editing what I want to say, and even putting myself in others' places to try to understand why they feel as they do.

So, yes, I do think it would be good for all of us to have the experience of travel. Not just outside the US, but outside our communities, our cities, our states, our geographic regions. I think the key to understanding is meeting each other face to face. It doesn't mean we will change our minds about anything, but it at least allows us to see that those who think differently are not demons, but our fellow travelers on this planet. Broadening our horizons in whatever ways we can will only make us more whole, and will certainly go a long way toward lessening our fear of that which is "other."

Thank you, Holly, for asking!

Mad dogs and Englishmen

I've never made a bucket list (I might still do that, since I'm only middle-aged!), but if I had, visiting Europe - especially England - would be near the top of the list.

I am an unashamed Anglophile. Okay, maybe I should be a little ashamed since I used to think Prince Charles and I would have made a nice couple; after all, we're nearly the same age. Actually, I thought he looked a little priggy, but since it would have given me access to the Crown Jewels, several palaces, and centuries of history, I was willing to overlook his looks. But I would have been unwilling to overlook his taste in Camilla. However, I digress.

I've always wanted to visit England. To see the Changing of the Guard, Big Ben, the Tower of London (and the Crown Jewels, of course), Westminster Abbey, Parliament - oh, all the usual stuff. I've yearned to see double-decker buses, London roundabouts (but not to drive in London!), to visit a pub (but not to drink warm beer); I've mentally drawn the line at boiled beef, but think I could handle fish and chips.

So, at last, I'm going! Jim & I arranged our tour this morning and we leave the end of April. We aren't going only to England, since we both want to get a "taste" of Europe. We'll have 3 days in London, travel by ferry to France for three days in Paris (I expect we'll spend at least one of those days in the Louvre), and then by train to Italy for three days in Rome! Now, how exciting is that?

I would be happy to spend longer in England and Italy, stopping in France only long enough for the Louvre, but such are the arrangements of tours. And perhaps we'll go back in the next year or so for an extended visit.

We both love historical sites so much that it's a thrill to even start planning! I mean, what's more historical than Europe? We will have plenty of free time to visit things not on the tour, so we're talking now about what we most want to see. Maybe we'll be able to fit in a trip to Pompeii, but whatever we do, it will be exciting for us.

So if you notice a theme to my posts over the coming weeks, you'll know what's causing it. Or maybe I'll surprise us all and just treat the upcoming trip as a matter of course. But I doubt it.