Yes travel is fun, but it can also help you discover who you are

I have always travelled — my Dad was a commercial airline pilot and we flew for almost free until we were of age. Believe me, that first trip after age 21 was very tough — I couldn’t believe how much I had to pay for it! We used to fly for as little as $15!

Growing up that way, it felt normal. But I am older now and it seems everyone flies and often in their sweat pants! But back then, not as many people flew as they do today. It was a little more unusual to be going on vacation and flying there.

My mother, brother, and I had to dress up back then; many people did when they flew, but we had to represent our father and Eastern airlines. We had to dress nicely and behave well. Especially because we often ended up in first class because we flew standby. We would often arrive 3 hours before the flight to get our ticket timestamped and get a better place in “line.” It was hard sometimes to get all of us on the same flight, and we often did not get to sit together.

I continued to travel as a young adult, and really enjoyed it. When I graduated from college, I worked as a waitress over the summer and flew to Madrid in October to live and teach English. I had a college friend there — Meghan — who was living with her Spanish boyfriend, so I wasn’t alone.