I can’t say that it was explicitly stated in my life, but I was raised to believe it was important to explore the world.
As I mentioned last week, when we visited my maternal grandparents, the ride took us right by O’Hare and all the billboards reminding us of new places we could travel to, or sunny locales to escape to during the ugly winters.
But my grandparents also had a world map hanging in one of the bedrooms over a couch that held pins for the places they had traveled. Each time they returned, there was some sort of small gift for each of us ten grandkids (I still have some packed away, some I’m not sure where they were purchased– a small leather pouch from Italy, a beaded necklace, a wooden doll). There was a book in the bedroom, too, from National Geographic showing people and places that felt like faraway lands I would never see.
I loved when we researched geography in school, from looking up Sweden and Australia in junior high (leading me to get pen pals in both places) to the travel brochures from Asia my parents collected for me from travel agencies for a project in college. The photos and unfamiliarity inspired me to want to see these places, to explore them.
However, I admit that this trip to Bali was much harder to actualize than anything in the past. The pandemic had squashed our ability to even make plans for several years and we began to doubt whether we even try to go to far-flung places. I hardly told anyone we were going to Bali until we were nearly ready to leave because I was so afraid the trip might get canceled.
The closer our leave date got, the more worried I became. I worried about everything that could go wrong– for us, at home, with the dogs. We have a great dog sitter, but I know things can happen outside one’s control. I wasn’t sure I would survive my anxiety, built up because I’ve been home the bulk of four years.
That’s exactly why I needed to leave- I had been home too long. While I missed exploring the world, I also needed to get out and see the world beyond my bubble. Home is great, however, we also need to leave home to appreciate it more. And that’s exactly what the trip did for me.