More About Me.....

I grew up (and still live) in a very small town-we're talking 750 people! It's where my heart is and always will be, and, I think, because of this small town, I have always had the urge to travel-to just see the world and what God created.

So, blogging has been something I have thought about for years as a way to document or journal my travels. Now that I have taken several more trips and still have no blog to document them, I thought why not start? And... I am in a Facebook group for Princess Cruises to Alaska and I shared my recent travel experience to Alaska on this page, and one of the group experts suggested I blog. It really hit me, girl, you can do this. I am not tech savvy. I have no idea what I am about to do. But let me back up.... This post is probably going to be a little scattered as I try to get my thoughts written/typed....

I love to travel. It is in my blood. It is my passion. It gives me joy.

I think I inherited the travel bug from my grandma. She loved to travel by boat, by bus, by plane, by train, by car. No matter the mode of transportation, she loved to travel. She went a lot of places and in her later years, she took short bus trips, so she was not gone from home as long.

I work full time as a Registered Nurse, so I am not fortunate enough or wealthy enough to travel any time I want. Usually, I take a longer (7-10 days) trip once a year, mainly in the spring or summer, and then a shorter trip in the fall. That is if I have a traveling companion!!! My husband would rather be fishing and that is the long and short of it. He will travel with me, but he does not get excited and obsessive about it like I do. He hates the airport and dealing with airlines, the waiting if your flight is delayed, and all that comes with it. But who doesn't hate that?

My mom loves to travel too, but she's approaching retirement and it seems to me that she and my dad must think they will be eating dirt when they retire because they'll be on a "fixed income." She won't be able to go anywhere when she quits working is what she tells me all the time. My dad definitely doesn't travel. We went to Hawaii (maybe I'll blog about that!) and that's the last trip he declared to take. He'll go to the beaches of North Carolina for a couple of days, but beyond that, he's sleeping in his bed every night! My dad-he is my biggest fan and taught me everything I know about sports. My love for the Carolina Tar Heels knows no bounds. There is no blue better than my Carolina blue. This I owe to my dad. No one loves to talk sports more than he does. And in recent years, I have taken to Carolina Hurricanes hockey. A little extreme from my Carolina blue to Carolina red. But it is what it is. I love hockey and understand very little about it-lol!

But why the sudden urge to go, go, go? Why the need to keep a trip in the planning stages? I just got back from a trip, and you want to know where we are going next and when. These questions and comments are spoken from my husband, Bobby, quite regularly. You see, on May 13, 2022, I lost my Aunt Tammy. Aside from my mom, she was my person. Her death was sudden and unexpected. It is not something I will ever get over. She was my childhood. She was the person I talked to most every day. We had so much in common, from our love of classic rock music (Queen, The Eagles, Tom Petty, Aerosmith, Journey) to our love of the television show, Criminal Minds. Through the years, she went through some difficult times in her marriage and with her finances. And she always wanted to go on trips but could never afford to. So, when she died at the age of 63, I realized that I am not guaranteed tomorrow. And if I want to travel, I need to just do it. She would want me to see the world, to see all the places she never got to see.

I have always loved pictures and have thousands upon thousands of pictures of vacations and other life events. But after years of collecting them, I no longer have the space for albums. So I have decided to not print all of my pictures, unless they are of our travels. I love scrapbooking and documenting all the little nuggets of information I gather and learn while on vacation. Vacation, you say? My husband says traveling with me is not a vacation because I have something planned every minute, so much so that he can't use the bathroom. But on a deeper level, it seems like why have all of these pictures and knowledge of places if I don't share it with anyone? I think that is the bigger reason for my decision to start a blog. Planning a trip can be daunting depending on the destination. I put a lot of time and effort into researching places and things to do. I watch a lot of you tube videos and follow a lot of group pages on social media to get insight into the best things to do while I am in a particular area of the country/world/state. So, it is a way to give back-a way to help others. Helping others is the reason I am a nurse. In some way, it seems gratifying to know that some little tidbit of information may save someone else some time or money and make them a great memory.