EVERYONE HAS A "FIRST TIME"

 "The journey of a thousand miles begins beneath one's feet."

                     - Lao Tzu

A few days ago my wife and I were talking about our upcoming 30th anniversary trip, which will include stops in New York City, London and Annapolis, Maryland. Three of our favorite places and unlike so many other of our voyages, no new territory to tread (except for a day trip out to Stonehenge). It's unusual, particularly since we fancy ourselves to be fairly adventurous travelers, always in search of someplace new. But these are among our favorite places and there is always something more to explore.

But it wasn't always this way. Thinking back thirty years ago it would be honest to say that while I was a reasonably seasoned traveler at that point, my wife was not. At 23, when we started dating, she had been to five states: Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas and, of course, California. A significant area, but still not a tremendous footprint.

Seeing and Doing

But growing up her parents had clearly taken steps to ensure their children -- my wife, her brother and her older sister -- were familiar with the world. Driving trips around the southwest and to Texas and back. Vacations in the Yosemite Valley (a place, stunningly, I have yet to get to myself). And on her own trips to Vegas for dance competitions. 

(Quick aside: for my readers who may not know this, my wife and I met as competitive ballroom dancers. Much as you would see on DANCING WITH THE STARS or, if you're in Europe, STRICTLY COME DANCING. I was an amateur, she was a professional teaching at the Hollywood Dance Center. Yes, that Hollywood. But that's a story for another time.)

Globetrotter

So while she didn't spend her childhood moving every two years, or driving across the country, she was raised with a keen appreciation for travel and "other places". Of course, living in the Los Angeles area couldn't hurt. It's an amazingly diverse city -- despite the willingness for people who live elsewhere to turn up their noses.

In our (*gasp!*) three decades together we've managed to achieve a solid history of traveling around the world and seeing many, many different places and things. 

As I look back, there are a handful of highlights which are meaningful to me. In her first really adventurous trip, my wife was flying back to meet my parents for the first time. They live in Annapolis (hence that being one of our destinations for this June's anniversary trip), and this required my wife to fly to New York City where, ostensibly, she was to catch another flight down to Baltimore. I would pick her up there, having flown back a few days prior.

But it was a tight layover, and in my own attempt the flight from LA had been late enough to cause me to miss the connection. The airline put me on a shuttle from JFK to La Guardia for a flight down to what, at the time, was simply called National Airport near Washington, DC. 

Unfortunately, it was also her first adventure with a New York cabbie, and their propensity for aggressive driving shocked her, despite the fact I'd already warned her-- reassuring her that the safest possible place was INSIDE the cab. True enough, on her jaunt, the cabbie took a shortcut up and over a curb, narrowly missing a pedestrian and bus stop bench.

Nowadays she'd shrug, but it made a profound impression on the 23 year old neophyte in the back seat.

That particular voyage was a fun and memorable one for a variety of reasons. Not o ly meeting my parents for the first time, which was intimidating in ways I won't describe here, but also took my wife on a grand discovery of the East Coast. We ventured into the District of Columbia to tour the monuments. The Lincoln Memorial, in particular, was a profound moment, and she teared up as we ascended the steps to see the sitting President.

After s handful of days with my parents, touring the DC, Maryland and Virginia countrysides, we boarded an Amtrak train up the Eastern Seaboard from DC to Providence, Rhode Island where we were met by my older sister and driven down to Newport for a few days visit around that wonderful little town on the New England coast. Then back to New York for an afternoon around Manhattan, taking in the New Years' Day quietude that settles in on even the City That Never Sleeps. I can remember vividly having the feeling of being overwhelmed by New York on that trip -- I had been only once before, under the nurturing care of my parents when we went down, in 1969, for the Apollo 11 ticker tape parade. But being there with the woman who was at that time still my fiancée, we both were in over our heads. Thankfully it was not Manhattan at its full blown, otherwise we might never have returned.

(As you guys know, New York has become one of our favorite places, so first impressions can be overcome.)

The point of all this is that it doesn't matter where you start, or where you might have been up to this point in your life. My wife is now a seasoned Traveler in her own right, with three continents, some 20 countries and territories, and 29 states to her credit.

What matters is you travel. With an open mind and a sense of adventure. 

You don't need to go far; you just need to get started.