Traveling is a passion of mine. I’ve done it since I was a little kid. I believe that is why I love summer so much… it was our family traveling season. The first adventure as a married woman was to venture with my newly wed husband on a trip to Michoacan, Mexico. He had never been out of the country at that point in his life and I wanted him to experience it for himself. He was a little skeptical about it but I think he was reassured by my past travel to Michoacan. We were 21 and we hit the road by bus, and taxi all over southern Mexico. We have been traveling together ever since.

When I had my first child, Jezreel, we decided to take our first road trip when she was 6 months old. I was still nursing but I wanted travel to be a natural part of her life… so we ventured on a 6 hour drive to San Francisco. Her natural curious and adventurous personality made the trip easy. She loved sitting up and looking around at everything as we drove. Her little smiley head bobbled around with a curiosity that couldn’t catch up to her physical skills (I think she defied Piaget’s stages of development on this trip. LOL)

I’m not one to leave both my children behind on my travel. They have been on 98 percent of my trips and the one’s I didn’t take them on was because they were too small to do the work I was going to be doing, missions in India and Russia. They love the adventure, excitement and thrill of travel and I love seeing them experience the world and make the connection to their school books. My daughter has become an awesome history geek and my son an archeological buff.

I have plans to blog more about my travel, even if it’s local because it needs to be seen as something attainable and not just for the sake of saying, “I’ve been there!”, but to show that traveling is an eye-opener,  a self-esteem builder,  and that it also keeps us humble as we see how others live. It makes us realize how small we are; but that even as small as we are, we can make a difference in this world. I’m passionate about my culture, my people, travel, and experiences but also about staying grounded and connected to myself and to those around me.

Before I began to take what I considered my “big trips”, it was only a dream to me to travel abroad. But I was able to live vicariously through pictures in books and magazines. Soon enough, my friends would tell me that they were living “vicariously” through me as the social media platforms began to emerge… we became globally connected. It was such a good feeling.

Personally, I get great joy seeing those around me travel. When I see them travel to places I have already been, I immediately reminisce of my own personal experiences. When they return from their trips, we have more to talk about because we have something else in common than stuffing our faces at dinner (Although I enjoy that too.)

As I write this blog, I occasionally look over my computer on this rainy day in Greece and can only feel gratitude in my heart to be here with my little family.  Soon enough my children will be grown and making their own memories like I did as a child.  But for now, I get to be part of theirs.

 

 

-Màs Masa
#latinosinathensgreece