My parents’ Swift plane

I was born to explore. As a kid in Manhattan I explored the dirt in Riverside Park; Central Park’s zoo; the dioramas at the Museum of Natural History and saw the Mona Lisa at the Guggenheim. I did all of that before I turned 4.

Travel must be in my genes. My dad worked for NBC. Mom was an artist. Like most New Yorkers, they didn’t have a car when they got married. But unlike most, their mode of transportation for weekend getaways was the small plane they owned.

When they finally did buy cars, they were never your father’s Oldsmobile. The tiny red Isetta had one door on the front. The steering wheel was attached to this door. It was so small that a favorite prank was to pick it up and move it. New York City’s finest would come to the door and tell my parents to move their car off the sidewalk.

Obviously, it wasn’t a traditional childhood, but it was a happy one. We moved a lot and I was always the new kid in school so it seemed natural to always be on the move as an adult. With belongings in tow, so far I have lived in 12 states from Florida to Alaska, New England to California. Along the way, I picked up a husband and a couple of generations of dogs and cats.

Being mobile makes me feel alive. You move to a new place and there is much to explore and discover. It takes time to get the hang of a place, how to live, to find the best stores and restaurants, meet new people and settle in. It’s an adventure in everyday life. After too long, I start to feel restless and need to move on, even if it’s only to a new neighborhood. I just need to start exploring someplace new.

Since it’s not always practical to move, I travel. I get my snippets of adventure by traveling. The planning of a trip is rejuvenating. It’s armchair exploring, searching for possibilities of things to do, neighborhoods to visit, new foods, etc. While I believe that you have to see the biggies such as the Eiffel Tower in Paris or Westminster Abbey, the offbeat attractions are some of the most interesting destinations of my travels.

So sit back and let me take you along as I explore the world.