“We can go anywhere in the world. Where do you want to go?” my mom asked me.
How do you answer a question like that? I have to curb my natural reaction to say “Everywhere.” I am constantly fascinated by all of the places around the world. I am lucky to have my passport stamped by many countries: Rwanda, Uganda, Kenya, Italy, France, Spain, USA, Poland, Tunisia, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Japan, Cuba, Barbados, and the Turks and Caicos Islands. It’s safe to say that I was bitten by the travel bug early on as a child, and I was fortunate enough to be able to travel throughout my life. I attribute much of my life lessons to being thrown into different countries and learning about the history, customs, and cultures of these different places.
We only have two weeks of vacation time; it isn’t possible to go everywhere in that short amount of time. I am spoiled by being a teacher and having the summer off, but my mother is more limited in her vacation time. Two weeks, and a world of possibilities, literally.
“China?” I ask. “Too far, not enough time. We’d spend our entire time on a plane!” she responded. “Hmmmm...so Asia is off the table?” “I think so.” “Back to Poland? I loved Poland. We could go to Zakopane, hike up the Tatra Mountains, and learn more about the Groelli people.” I tried advocating strongly for Poland. Poland is the country where my mother’s family had immigrated from. Both my mother and I had never grown up in Poland, but we still had distant family members living there. It was always interesting to go back to the country where my great grandparents immigrated from.
“Maybe, but I’d like to go to somewhere I haven’t been to before.” my mother responded. “Let’s take a look at what types of tours are being offered through different tour companies.”
My mother is enthusiastic about tour companies. I can’t blame her; planning a whole trip takes a lot of effort. I’ve never personally been on a tour, but I’m not too picky. She wants to do a hiking trip, and the tour company driving our luggage to all of the different locations is something that appeals to her, especially as woman in her golden ages. I find it hard to argue with having someone carry all of my personal belongings.
A quick look around at the different tours shows the multitude of possibilities. Hiking in South America, trekking to the top of Mt. Kiliminjaro, and hiking along the beautiful coast of Italy, just to name a few.
“Wait, go back to that one” my mom said. “Which?” “That one.” “Ohhh, pretty.”
The picture showed a beautiful coast line with ancient looking buildings inset among the rock. It was titled “The Pearl of the Adriatic Sea”. The price looked right, the pictures looked beautiful: Croatia. After a bit of conferring and Googling my mother wrote me an e-mail.
FROM: Kathryn TO: Jacquelyn SUBJECT: Croatia J, Nancy wants to come on the trip with us. You cool with that?
FROM: Jacquelyn TO: Kathryn SUBJECT: Re: Croatia Yeah, she’s our cousin. She’s welcome to come!
FROM: Kathryn TO: Jacquelyn SUBJECT: Re: Re: Croatia Ok so we’ve found a hiking trip through Croatia. We’ve booked it, including our flights. We’re going this summer. Get excited.
And just like that, we were headed off to Croatia for the summer. My curiosity of Croatia suddenly soared.
What is Croatia’s history? How do you speak Croatian? What is the geography of Croatia? What are the most famous books written by Croatians? What else do I not know about this country?