Hello!
Welcome to the launch of my new blog,
Homestead Travels. I hope to share my
photos and experiences that I have gathered
as I have traveled around the world. Please
feel free to ask questions in the comment
area or add information from your own
travel experiences.
My earliest memories are of vacations
with my family, I suppose because those
memories were different from the day to
day life at home. But I was hooked at
a young age.
As a teenager I was a Sea Explorer, I loved
being on the water, I still do, but also part
of the draw was we traveled every weekend
from April through October taking scout groups
on weekend cruises to Mystic Seaport, West Point
or Greenport, Long Island. We sea scouts were
the crew on these trips, we cooked for 40 people,
we had someone on log duty watch 24 hours a day,
we had engine room watch, and helm duty and
then we had to clean everything too. It was hard
work, but we were having the time of our lives.
And every summer we got to go away with 40
of our best friends on our 2 week Long Cruise
which was just for us.
This was perfect for the teenager with a mad
case of wanderlust.
The travels continued, including some
wild, hilarious low-budget trips in college.
The post-college, we finally have some
money of our own trips in our 20's.
.bmp)
Then on to marriage and kids, the trips
became a bit more educational and a
little less extravagant due to worrying
about a mortgage and the costs of raising
2 kids. But we always felt that part of our
responsibility in raising our kids was to
have them see the world and how other
people lived.
By the time the kids were 18 they
had circumnavigated the globe. We
felt this was as important a part of their
formative years as high school was. Travel
adds so much to your history.
"Travel is the only thing you buy
that makes you richer."
At about this point you may be saying,
"sure, that's great if you are rich."
WE ARE NOT RICH.
We save our pennies (literally), we eat in
more than we eat out, we stay out of malls,
we don't waste the money we do have but
save it so we can see the world.
We have a travel style that we call
Lavish, yet Frugal. We rent apartments
where we can cook when in many European
cities because dining out with 4 or 5 people
is very expensive. We always eat out in Asia
because food there is good and cheap. Street
food and picnics are not only acceptable but
something we love.
We meet the locals whenever we can.
Our travel experiences are always so
much richer from the people we meet.
The Eurotrash at the next table who are
treating the staff in a horrible way ~ ick;
the American man with his Thai "girlfriend"
and he can't even remember her name so
he calls her "my girl" ~ hmmm, I'll be pleasant
enough but you don't interest me; the hordes
of my fellow Americans who leave their gated
communities only to go to a gated all-inclusive
resort and then treat the staff miserably and
tell them they are VIP's ~ oh, go away...
I'm talking to Roberto, the maître d' of
the restaurant who tells me which Mercado to
visit to find the best homemade cheese.
I'm talking to the waiter who tells me where
to find beautiful pottery, the maid who tells
me about her life and her kids, the guy who
sells stuff on the street in Tangier who I just
caught a glimpse of on Tony Bourdain's show
on CNN last night.
Then there are the fellow travelers that I meet
and instantly know we will be friends, sharing
experiences that we have from around the world.
And that's what I hope will happen with this blog,
I hope people will enjoy hearing the travel tales
and looking at the photos from around the globe.
Whether you're planning your next trip or are enjoying
learning about the world from your own living room.
So, follow along as I begin this new journey.
All the best ~ Ellen
"Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and
things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one
little corner of the earth all one's lifetime.”
Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed
by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did.
So throw off the bowlines, Sail away from the safe harbor.
Catch the trade winds in your sails.
Explore. Dream. Discover.
~ Mark Twain
