Leave the Minivan Behind
21 February 2011
Although all parents need and deserve relaxing time alone, one of our younger R. Crusoe employees is here to discuss how traveling the world with your children can enhance their lives — and yours. Here, she discusses how her own early travel experiences helped shape her views of the world, and how they helped her see her parents more clearly.
After years of visiting beaches and big cities in the U.S., my parents took my older brother and me on our first international family trip. I was 16, and eager to see what the rest of the world had to offer. We jetted off to London, and after a few days of castles, museums and crown jewels, we took the Chunnel to Paris. It was the first of several international trips with my family, and now more than a decade later, these experiences are as influential as ever.
The things my parents worried about before traveling — the transportation, the conflicts, the jet lag — didn’t make an impact on me. I don’t recall flight delays, or bickering about our daily itinerary. Looking back, I just remember being with them and seeing the world together. I remember the foods we tasted (mussels in Brussels, falafel in Israel), the museums we visited (Musée d’Orsay in Paris, the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam), the leisurely walks, the gardens, and all the places we had once read about and could now experience in person. And I recall being moved by what we saw and by the fact that I was witnessing it for the first time with the people who brought me into the world.
I have vivid memories of watching students play cricket in Dublin, walking the Champs-Élysées in Paris, seeing "Miss Saigon" in London, encountering a bagpiper in the Scottish Highlands, and visiting the Anne Frank home in Amsterdam. Not only did I come home with souvenirs and countless rolls of pictures, but I returned with a newfound respect for my parents. Being far from home, I could better understand their values and I could see their respect for other people, cultures, and places.
Besides teaching me about art, literature, and history — these experiences shaped the way I view the world today. They helped me find the beauty in everything, no matter how different or mundane. They taught me to take the time to understand others and respect what makes them special. And they inspired me to live in the present. So was it the experience of international travel that taught me these things, or was it my parents? I’d like to think it was some of both. My parents hadn’t changed, but being away from what I knew changed me. And it allowed me see them, not just as my parents, but for who they really are.
When I reflect on these trips years later, I can pinpoint all the obstacles they must have encountered to get us to these places — the time off from work, the planning, the costs, the bumps in the road. This commitment to showing me and my brother the world leaves me with even more respect for my parents today, and it reminds me of the person I strive to be. I hope someday I can return the favor and we can once again, discover ourselves and new worlds together.