DON’T TELL ME HOW EDUCATED YOU ARE, TELL ME HOW MUCH YOU HAVE TRAVELLED

I made my first international trip in 2002. Our son Christopher was studying in Beijing and my mom wanted to visit. She was born in China in Guangdong Province which is in southern China. She was 77 at the time and had not been back to visit in 52 years.

I was excited to take her because I wanted to see the village where she grew up. When I raised the topic with her, her response was “I’ve been there. I want to see Beijing.” This is the equivalent of a farm girl from Kansas saying I want to see New York City! So off we went. During our visit we took her to see the Great Wall of China. Unfortunately we visited on May 1, a huge national holiday. The place was packed. When we arrived at the base to begin our walk she looked up at the magnificent sight of the wall and said, “Ever since I was a little girl, I’ve always wanted to see the Great Wall of China.”

We began a slow walk up the wall, which has shallow and deep steps along the way. For the holiday, soldiers were lined up, at attention, the length of the wall we were negotiating. One of the soldiers noticed my mom struggling to climb up and broke formation to run down to offer her his arm to help her. I will always remember the sight of the young Chinese soldier, resplendent in his uniform, leading my elderly mom up the steps, as the crowds parted for them.

This was the beginning of what this summer to Ireland (2022) will be Trip #21. Along the way, friends began asking if they could join me on my trips. The size of the group traveling has grown to a maximum of 16 people (perfect size). There is a core group that routinely comes but we welcome new friends and adventurers.

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