Planes, Trains, and Automobile, No Train, Sub Boat

For the past few years, I have reasoned that my desire, my passion for travel, was born out of my trip to Japan that I took with my friend Sandra and her family, and then my trip to South Africa, that I took with my Grandma Kennedy. It has recently dawned on me, that this seed for adventure was planted much earlier and that it's not just I who suffers from travelitis, but my whole family.

At present, my Dad and his good friend Terry are living on a sail boat, meandering down the Pacific Coast. They are still in U.S. waters, for now. Soon they will sail south of the border and down to Zihuatanejo, Mexico. Their goal is to arrive in a timely fashion, so as to meet up with my Mom, my sister Alison, who will be celebrating her 30th birthday there, Seth, my bother-in-law, and a handful our of awesome friends. While Alison and crew board planes from various states, Jahsiah, Timmy, and I will be driving south, with a stop-off at the Grand Canyon, we will be working our way down to Zihua, also with the goal of arriving for the one week where the Moore clan, in all it's craziness, can meet up and spend some time in the same city where we spent Christmas last year.

My family, my immediate family, has done a lot of traveling. My sister and I both got started early in the international travel, thanks to Grandma Kennedy, and once my parents retired, they caught up really quickly. We have Central and South America, Asia, Africa, and Europe under our belts, combined we have been to all continents, save Australia (Christmas 2013 anyone?). But the truth is, we were traveling long before our international debuts. With family drives to Montana to visit the Cutbank folks, stopping along the way to see the Salt Flats of Utah, minor league baseball, Yellowstone, and other roadside attractions, a road-trip is no stranger to the Moores. Then there were the family vacations to Hawa'ii, thank you Mom and Aunt Lynn for making these magical moments occur. What better way to spend time as a kid than playing in the waves on Maui? No wonder I'm obsessed with living by the beach.

But it's not just my immediate family. The whole lot of us seem to be crazy! My cousin Vicky spent time in Belize, went to school in the UK and now lives in Scotland. Grandma Kennedy has been to over 80 countries (at least that's what I remember the count being), Grandma and Grandpa Duncan sent me jade jewelry from there voyage to New Zealand, Uncle Brett was all but famous in Mykonos, Greece, we have China under our belts, more Europe, the list goes on and on! This is a rather worldly family, on all sides!

And I think back to when Alison and I would fly to Fullerton for the summer. Now, that might not sound like the most exciting thing ever to you, but to me, it was awe inspiring. Just me and my sister, young, getting sent on a plane, alone, knowing that Grandpa would be waiting to pick us up from the airport. We would get seated first, as children flying without parents. We usually got little pins of wings to wear and playing cards. I remember exiting the plane, one of those open air airports, and it was always sticky in Fullerton in the summer (wonder why I like humidity), so the warm air would smack you in the face as you left the air-conditioned cabin. I believe that these trips are the reason I tend to be so fearless when traveling. I'll go anywhere, even if others say it is unsafe, because as scary as the voyage into the unknown might be, a friendly face is always awaiting you at your destination.

So when people look at me like I'm crazy for wanting to drive to Costa Rica, I just want to tell them, you should meet my family, they make me look normal, if not at times, boring.