My Travels
Born in Germany, travel was probably 2nd nature to me at a very young age. Europeans easily travel from country to country in a short period of time and without too much difficulty, especially in a culture where trains are plentiful and cars can sometimes travel with few speed limit restrictions. The countries of Europe are relatively close together, small, and families may have emigrated from other countries, leaving friends and relatives behind. My mother was born in Yugoslavia, my father was American, and we lived in Germany, so I inherited an internationality. At a fairly young age, we came to the United States, did a bit of traveling, before settling down in the Cleveland area.
I've traveled back to Europe a number of times, visiting Germany, England, France, Switzerland, and Italy. I've also been in Toronto, Windsor, and Vancouver in Canada. For the most part, my stay in each place was brief, and only gave me a taste of the area. Within the US, I've traveled both for business and pleasure to Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco, in California, Seattle, in Washington, Portland, in Oregon, Denver, in Colorado, Wisconsin, Chicago (lived there), Indiana, New Orleans, in Louisiana, Atlanta, in Georgia, Florida, New York, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and probably more that don't come to mind at the moment.
Travel has obviously changed in recent years, with tighter security and higher fuel costs. You have to remove your shoes at check in, can only have small containers of any soaps, shampoos, etc., nothing even relatively dangerous (not even nail clippers), doors to the cockpit of passenger planes are locked and reinforced, more air marshals travel anonymously on planes, bags are xrayed and sniffed, passengers are often body scanned, and it has been common to see soldiers with machine guns at European airports for many years.
Nevertheless, the world is an incredible place, and even with all these "inconveniences", I still want to see many parts of it. My "bucket list" includes: Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, London (again), Scotland, South America (not sure which part, though definitely Brazil), Prague, Czechoslovakia, India,China, Thailand, and Israel, as a beginning itinerary. As a traveler, I take in a lot quickly, visiting many sites in a short time, and taking in a lot of experiences. I also take a lot of pictures, and try as many of the local foods as I have time for. I prefer adventure to comfort, though I've come to prioritize air conditioning, when traveling in Europe. I try to stay somewhere between fun and frenetic.