Today’s post is from a very good friend of mine Kelly Seperack. Kelly helped to keep me sane in a crazy teaching world for a year here in North Carolina. I’m so excited to feature her thoughts on her own travel, and the inspiration that travel bloggers give her to dream big.
A few days ago my friend, Caroline , posted “What does travel mean to you?” and I have not been able to stop thinking about this question; in fact the question quickly morphed in my mind to “What does reading travel blogs mean to me?” So, this collection of thoughts is really a big shout out to all you adventurers who share stories with a wider web audience and inspire us to dream big!
Fun at the lake with the boys
As a busy mom of two young boys, travel consists of carting the 7 year old sprite to soccer camp or trekking in our woodsy backyard to the marshy creek to scout for frogs,only to trudge home with the screaming 2 1/2 year old glued to me, caked in mud up to our knees. The carrying on was not because of the mud, but rather that the frogs could not become our live-in guests. If we are feeling adventurous we take the 1 1/2 hour ride to travel to one of our favorite places Topsail Beach, NC to dance in the surf and build in the sand for the day. On even rarer occasions, when I have totally lost it, we gear up for a 14 hour drive (complete with a fully functioning DVD player, a backup just in case, and every Star Wars movie ever produced), and head north to revisit childhood memories at Grammy and Pop-pop’s cottage in the Berkshires of Massachussetts. Pontoon boat gets outfitted, the boys don their watervests, and we picnic on the chilly waters of Lake Mahkeenac, where if we are really lucky we can hear the classical sounds of the Boston Pops as they play Tanglewood, their summer home. Although I treasure these travel experiences and love making memories with my little ones, travel has become small.
The woodsy view of Lake Mahkeenac taken by the budding 7 year old photographer
Post college and pre kids, I’ve had a myriad of “big” travel experiences: learning to ski in the Tyrolean mountains of Austria, falling head over heels for a fiddler at a local pub in Galway, Ireland, exploring the narrow cobbled streets of Venice, Italy, scuba diving with the kindest of sharks in the Bahamas, and burying my toes in the white sand while watching the sunset in a pastel explosion of color in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. Sometimes, when I am wrestling with the big bear hug of responsibility, I wonder where this free-spirited traveler has gone and if I will ever find her again. Yet, the rational teacher and mom in me realizes that traveling small will have to suffice for now, especially while the bohemian dreamer in me scours Caz’s blog like a kid in a candy shop. I live vicariously through her posts of travel to Thailand, yearning for a much needed Thai massage. Or more recently, thinking that one day it would be amazing to sit among the roaring fans and buzzing vuvuzela horns as I watch Spain clinch another World Cup. A voracious reader, I find myself easily transported into guest posts describing the architectural beauty of the Sydney Opera House and Harbour Bridge, knowing that one day I intend to take that work sabbatical and live out the experiences that are tucked in my imagination. Experiences that have only become ideas by reading about the escapades of others.
So travelers, far and wide or small and close, keep posting about your adventures for your words and photos transport your audience to places we have yet to visit, they inspire and create the wonder of possibility, and the promise of big travel to all the readers and dreamers out there.
Kelly is usually found carrying a backpack or two, filled to the zipper with the “best books ever” for her own lil’ boys, or the big kids she teaches. If you dig deep enough there might even be a story or two for her. A couple of years ago, she traded the fast paced suburban life of the Northeast (just a 1/2 hour train ride to NY, NY), for a spindly pine filled piece of land where her family could make friends with the cows that lived nearby. She shares not only stories but the crazy, random wonderings and thoughts of her life with her students hoping to inspire them to become the readers, writers, thinkers, and eco-friendly globetrotters of tomorrow.
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