Seattle’s KCTS recently produced a TV special celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Seattle World’s Fair (and our Space Needle). Because I enjoyed the fair as a seven year-old back in 1962, the producers sat me down for an interview. It caused me to think about the random events in a person’s life that open them up to our world, and the long-term blessings that can result. Check out this 84-second video. Then think of what in your childhood may have contributed to your appetite for getting out of your comfort zone to enjoy and learn from other cultures. Then, if you like, share it with a comment here.
If you can’t see the video below, watch it on YouTube.
Comments
Being elected president of the international club at a prestigious US military institution impacted my desire to learn more about South America, Europe, Middle-East, Southeast Asia and also travel there. But I was elected not because I was “brilliant” or “tri-lingual” but principally because those students from those places thought I as an American could bring more attention and benefits to them in the US of that era.
I remember as a kid riding across the Pennsylvania Turnpike every summer to visit my grandparents. I would watch the exits and calculate the miles and tolls. I know that those trips fed my love of travel which is strong to this day.
Hey Rick Steves travel community and Jeff from PA,
When you mentioned the PA Turnpike, it elicited a similar feeling for me. Most of my early travel experiences were travel with my parents to visit relatives. For me “going to grandma’s” always involved spending a few hours in the car. This may have instilled in me a sense that a long or difficult journey was worth it for the payoff. Seeing grandma was worth the long car ride. Similarly, going “downtown”, taking the trolley from our home in the suburbs to the city was always a special treat made possible by parents who loved us enough to expose us to more than our suburban township afforded. Travel was special and still is and I thank my parents for that.
I think my love of international travel and my degree in International Relations from Michigan State evolved from my early childhood. I must have been eight or nine, and LOVED the American Indians so much that I memorized every tribe that was in the US, their chiefs, important dates, basically everything about them. Don’t know if I can recall all those details with specificity any more but it is interesting to see how one’s early childhood DOES shape what interests they have in life.
Jan that is incredible! I just looked at the Federal recognized tribes list and it numbers at least 565 separate tribes. I could never get past the Shawnee and Miami. Loved Tecumseh and Little Turtle, they were great men then and would be nearly Gods today.If only we had anyone of such character running for the Presidency today.
Perhaps one of the greatest speeches ever spoken by man would have to be Logan’s Lament of the Cayuga or Mingo tribe, at least as far as an emotional outpouring.
Sorry off topic. I’m with you Jan.
I remember as a young child being fascinated by our globe. My sister and I would take turns spinning it with our eyes closed, then point to a place, open our eyes, and see where we would travel to. Sometimes it was in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, but that’s what ignited my passion for travel. My first trip to Europe was on a 2 month student tour, and after those 2 months were over, I was sorry to come home. That trip literally opened my eyes to the incredible diversity of cultures, languages, food, and people that I would not have experienced otherwise (I still remember my first taste of Godiva chocolate, in Brussels, just off the Grande Place).
Although I’ve now traveled to most of Europe (including the former Soviet Union, Yugoslavia) and Kazakhstan, I feel as though I’ve barely scratched the surface of this wonderful planet we live on. I still feel that childlike wonder whenever I travel abroad.
Reza
My Dad was a Lutheran pastor, and we served churches in varied places like North Dakota, Chicago, Indiana and Southern California. And we hosted missionaries and others from around the world many times, which absolutely captivated me. Couple that with visits and vacations to grandparents in southern Illinois and to locales where my older brothers and sister live in different areas of the country, and I know that sparked my curiosity about other cultures (yes, we are blessed with many different cultures even within the US, although things seem to be getting more “homogenized”). And, I also know that exposure helped me to be able to communicate with and understand people from all kinds of backgrounds. Even as a little kid, I’d be amazed that I knew about other places (that I’d likely been to) while other kids my age had never had the opportunity to venture much beyond their home areas (and therefore had limited knowledge of a world outside theirs).
That education has helped me to this day, as I make my living in communications, and serve and connect with people of all ages and backgrounds in my church life.
It was the summer of 1991 and I was armed with a backpack, a Eurail pass, my best friend, and my first Rick Steves books: Mona Winks & History and Art for the Traveler. The summer before my sophomore semester spent at Oxford, we visited Europe’s major cities, enjoyed every museum, and climbed every dome and tower! I learned that it was possible for a humble Midwestern girl to see the world. I’ve been hooked on back door travel ever since!
When my dad bought a RV and took us repeatedly to Turkey: that’s where it all got started. But at the time I repeatedly wondered “Why are we here among these people instead of being on a lovely Italian beach as all my school mates?”
In 1963 while in the 3rd grade, I read the book, A Child’s Geography of the World. I made up my mind right then that I was going to someday travel to these fascinating countries. I will visit #40 next week-China. I have found a copy of this book (published in 1929!) and it sits on my desk and continues to inspire my love of travel.
For as long as I can remember when growing up, our family (parents and my 4 brothers) took a 3 week vacation in the family station wagon, with the vinal roof rack attached to the top of the car. We camped around the US to/from Minnesota to visit relatives on the east coast, Colorado, and Florida. I can count on 3 fingers the number of times we stayed in a motel room; the first was the night Apollo landed on the moon, 2nd was a snowstorm over Christmas in Kentucky, and the 3rd was Washington DC (no camp sites). With a family of 7, there were always things that went wrong from flat tires, ER visits, or leaving a kid behind. My parents always made these events part of the travel adventure. For the New York World’s fair in 64, my parents attached “leashes” to 4 of us kids so would not get separated, and I remember people taking pictures of us.
When my husband and I met 28 years ago, he’d never traveled much and in fact had never seen an ocean until our Honeymoon in San Francisco. But he must have caught the travel bug from me as we are always planning our next vacation to someplace on the bucket list.