throwback thought - world travel

There was a time when I thought everyone traveled to international places on vacation....

My first time on an international flight took place before I can remember - pretty sure I was still an infant and by the time my first passport expired, I had more stamps from customs than I could count.  My parents are immigrants from the Philippines and majority of our extended family still lives in Manila, which meant that most holidays were spent abroad.  In 4th grade, and yes I remember this vividly, I recall having a conversation with a classmate on the playground about air travel.  She talked about having never been on a plane and I remember reacting immediately with, "You've never been to Japan?!!!"  Boy was I wrong.  My parents did a fabulous job of showing us the world and back then, I remember thinking that everyone was as fortunate as I was - that travel to Asia was as normal as a drive down to the store.

Quite honestly, and I can't believe I'm admitting this, it wasn't until I went away to college where I realized that my life was filled with luxuries that included international travel.  I'm ashamed to admit it, but it's true.  In my mind, travel was something that was achievable for everyone - especially international travel, but now that I'm older (and thankfully wiser) I see international travel differently.  Even more so, I appreciate every moment that we get to travel abroad because finding time to do it now is less frequent then when I was a child.  Between restricted amount of vacation days and the cost to travel, sometimes it's easier to avoid then it is to plan, but when you find time to go - it's the most amazing experience ever.

Looking back at the travel I did as a child, I never appreciated it as much as I do now.  If only I had that appreciation at a younger age, I would have soaked up every minute of every city.  Now that I know a tad better, I want to make sure that Liam doesn't grow up thinking that world travel is normal for everyone - because it's not, even though it should be.  It's an indulging experience that I truly hope everyone can experience more than just once in their lives.

What was your perception of international travel as a child?  What is something you used to think was true, but realized wasn't as you grew older?

Throwback Thought is a new series exploring random thoughts that I once thought to be true.