As every one of my blog posts shows, I love to travel. My favorite places are almost all in Europe; I’m not ready to get punched like a pin cushion just to go on an African safari, although I may want to do that one day.

9/11 did not diminish my desire to travel but it certainly has made travel in general and air travel in particular more time-consuming and tiresome. When Dad and I flew to Europe in May of 2002, travel numbers were still down compared with previous years. People and luggage were searched more carefully, but only for those of us coming through American airports or headed for a U.S. destination from Europe. Not everyone was buying into the war on terror as a global mindset.

This writing gig is new for me, so I have a long way to go before I feel confident that I’m communicating well. Rick Steves, however, has been doing his travel guide and travel writing thing for a long time and I hope that my writing is someday as good as his.

Here is a link to Rick’s thoughts about 9/11 and how traveling to other countries can promote international understanding at a personal level as well as providing an exciting adventure away from our daily lives.