Living Overseas

Rota, Spain

At the age of 21 I hopped on a plane and flew to Rota, Spain to follow the guy I would eventually marry.  He was going to be stationed there with the US Navy for three years and had asked me to marry him just before he left 4 months earlier.  I arrived with two suitcases of clothes and some money from Dad in lieu of a wedding.  That was the beginning of a great adventure living in and getting to know a different culture and country. 


Arcos de la Frontera

The first two weeks were full of setting up our furnished apartment located on the third floor of a newer building that was only a mile or so from the main gate of Naval Station Rota.  We mostly shopped at the Navy Exchange at first but it was fun to walk around town and look at all the small stores with many different things.  After a few weeks the “new” wore off and the difficulties of living and functioning in a foreign culture became real.  Nothing in Spain happens at the speed that a young American is used to.  Very few people had home phones (cell phones were unknown back then), there were only a couple of local Spanish TV channels (Satellite TV did not exist), and many locals were quite impatient with my poor Spanish.  It took a while to realize that people were not being rude or lazy, it is just how their culture functions.  Plus they had spent many years dealing with rude Americans and it took time for them to figure out I was not like others.  Also, there was no 24 hour 7-11s to pick up some forgotten item at any time of day or night, that is such a small things but the small things can make a difference.  So much was different, I really felt like a fish out of water and I was often very lonely because my husband was always gone on deployment.   It helped me to appreciate living in the US and I decided then that I would encourage my children to travel one day. 

Cathedral in Cadiz

For the first few months I did not know anyone, I did not work and did not have a car, so I spent many days just walking around town. There was no map so I just walked where ever looked interesting and kept walking until something looked familiar.  Thankfully it was a small town with an ocean on one side and a military base on the other.  After I bought a car I followed that same pattern all around the surrounding towns and that is how I stumbled across some wonderfully beautiful old structures; churches, castles, museums, and government buildings.  Sometimes I could remember how to get back to those historical places and sometimes I just had to stumble across them again.   When I got a job at the Navy Exchange my exploration days were limited and I started to settle into daily life.  I got to know some of the local neighbors but still socialized mostly with the other Americans.  As I became more comfortable living on the Spanish economy I shopped for more and more items at the local stores.  Of course, the Navy Commissary was there for all the staples we were used to cooking and eating, but it was fun to roam around the local grocery store or Hypercore (Wal-Mart type store) and buy local products also. 

The Alhambra, Granada, Spain

I met many Americans stationed in Rota who lived on base and almost never left the base.  I always wondered how they could do that without going stir crazy.  I also met people who did nothing but complain about the Spanish people or the differences in culture and lifestyle.  Those people had a tendency to think that different meant bad and they were miserable the whole time.  I wonder if they look back today and regret missing seeing as much as they could while they were there.

Cathedral, Jerez de la Frontera, Spain

I hated history as a kid in school, it seemed so boring, but I loved seeing all the historical places in Spain.  It brought those boring words in a book to life when you could see the actual place something historical happened.  Christopher Columbus actually walked the streets of Seville and he is allegedly buried at the cathedral.  Cadiz was the oldest continually inhabited city in all of southwestern Europe, supposedly first settled about 1000 BC.  Jerez de la Frontiera has some of the best sherry vineyards and bodegas in the world.  I became the unofficial tour guide.  I loved to take visiting guests or new Navy friends to see all the old forts, castles and cathedrals.  Thankfully my husband and friends also like to explore the area also.  We spent many weekends driving around Southern Spain exploring small towns like Rhonda, Arcos, Ubrique, and Gibraltar. 

Cathedral, Sevilla, Spain

Over time, my Spanish got better and I became more comfortable and came to really enjoy the slower paced life of Southern Spain.  Two and a half years later we received orders to Adak, Alaska.  I was excited about getting to experience a completely new place but sad to leave Spain.  I had become very comfortable living, working, and shopping in the Spanish culture.  I felt like I was leaving my home. 

The experience of living in Spain when I was so young really left a deep impact on me.  I still crave good Spanish cheese, huge olives stuffed with garlic, crusty Spanish bread and cheap red wine mixed with La Casera.  To this day, I try to find that same “cultural experience” when I travel somewhere, but it is almost impossible to really get to know a place in two weeks or less.  Now look forward to the time when I can once again live somewhere with a similar culture; Belize, Mexico, the Caribbean.   It also branded a love of travel on my heart; a love that has only grown over time and has lasted much longer than my marriage. 

TRAVEL ON!

The Travel Addiction

I have discovered that travel can become a full blown addiction, not much different than any other substance addiction.  Oh it starts so harmless, a quick trip into Canada or Mexico, just across the border for the day.  It is interesting; it is even a bit exotic.  That leads to a trip across the pond, maybe some place relatively comfortable like England; why not, they speak a somewhat understandable version of English.  You are fascinated by soaring spires and the colorful stain glass of old churches.  It is fun to visit places that are full of the ghosts of history such as the Tower of London, see buildings that are over 1000 years old, and imagine you just saw Queen Elizabeth peek out the window of Buckingham Palace.

That trip was a bit expensive so you tell yourself that you must stay home for a while.  Then you are invited to visit friends who live in Greece.  Why not, it’s not really like traveling alone; there are people to meet you on the other side.  The amount of history in Athens is completely overwhelming, your body is exhausted from walking and your mind is exhausted from trying to understand what you are seeing.  Then the beauty and the serenity of the islands is the exact opposite of Athens.  After staying home for a few years, as your 40^th birthday approaches, you decide to jump right into the deep end of the travel ocean and book a safari to Tanzania. 

Then you are invited to go scuba diving in the Cayman Islands with a group of complete strangers.  After that, it is a free for all of unabashed travel to any location; all around the Caribbean, the South Pacific, Iceland, Peru, and China.  Any place you can find an excuse to go.  Three or four times a year, work be dammed, you have to go.  Money be dammed, you can’t take it with you.  If you don’t have a travel itinerary on your desk for the next trip or two you feel restless, bored.  You spend your spare time searching for excuses to go somewhere and then planning and researching.  You get more and more bold and the destinations just get more exotic.  Finally you end up sleeping in a tent at Everest Base Camp the night before you cross the border from Tibet to Nepal.  The same girl who was a bit timid on her first trip to Mexico is now catching a bus to Kathmandu.  It sneaks up on you and it all happens so quickly, so innocently. 

My advice?  Embrace the addiction; ignore the friends who roll their eyes when they hear where you are going next.  Go anyplace you find interesting, just do it! 

TRAVEL ON!

Are you a traveler??

Let’s face it, some people are travelers and some are not.  If you are not sure what I mean, then most likely you are not a traveler.  Those of you out there who have traveled with any regularity know exactly what I mean.  A traveler is really good at just going with the flow.  Plane delays, cancelations, bad weather, gross food, dirty hotel rooms, rude locals, locals who are too friendly and even being completely lost won’t ruffle a good traveler, most of the time!  It’s all part of the adventure and complaining or getting angry won’t change things.  It just makes you and your travel buddy miserable.  Look for a solution, chill out and go with it. 

Dinner for orphan boys in Moshi, Tanzania

You never know if the person you choose to travel with is going to be a good travel companion until you actually get out there and then it’s too late.  When choosing a travel companion there are some red flags that will help you determine if your buddy is a traveler before you hit the road.  Do they complain about the food served to them in the states?  If so, they will never be content with food served in many parts of the world.  There are some wonderful, exotic destinations of the world where the food is strange, slimy, smelly, too strong or even tasteless.  A traveler smiles and says a polite thank you when served something unrecognizable, then at least tastes it.  Never ask what it is until AFTER you have tried it.  The wonderful tender, tasty meat you are really enjoying might not taste so well once you learn its donkey.  BTW, donkey is actually really good and very tender; they are raised for meat in China.  From there you keep smiling and then eat what you think you can stomach, or eat just a small bit and then claim you are stuffed full!!  Later, that granola bar in your suitcase will be the best tasting granola bar you ever ate.

"Fancy" Squatty Potty

Does your potential travel companion carry around an enormous purse with more stuff than they can use in a lifetime?  Do they take three bags just for a weekend get-a-way?  If so, you may find they arrive with more luggage than they can carry as they run through a train station.  My cardinal rule:  don’t take more than you can carry easily all by yourself.  It can be really hard to do, especially if you are gone more than a week or two.  I am still working on downsizing my wardrobe for a two week trip.  My goal is to get it down to one medium back pack but I am not there yet.  I still have a roller bag and small backpack.

Notice how your travel buddy acts when meeting people of different ethnicities who live in the states.  Are they uncomfortable, do they complain about the differences in accent or smell? Or do they find other cultures interesting?  Being willing to embrace another culture and respect their daily lives and habits is paramount when traveling.  It can be hard, especially in places where there is little personal hygiene or no such thing as personal space and where there is no such thing as a line.  As an American, it is so difficult for me when I have to accept the pushing and shoving of the locals just to get to security or through an open door to some event.  

Street Vendor Xi'an China

We will all make cultural faux pas when traveling so don’t fear it, embrace it and be as respectful as possible.  Whoever coined the phrase, “When in Rome do as the Romans do” was clearly a traveler!  To me, exploring different cultures, different landscapes, different food, different daily habits, and different lifestyles is fascinating.  It helps me to appreciate my life here in the US but also keeps life interesting.  

TRAVEL ON!!