I think it was my grandparents that raised my interest in travel. My grandfather’s business often sent him to Singapore and Indonesia, and so for much of the time period before I was 10, my grandparents lived overseas. They sent me postcard after postcard, telling silly stories, and things about the cultures in those respective countries. I found it fascinating and at the same time, it normalized overseas travel–I thought it was something that everyone did.

The stories were wild and fantastical, usually involving Grandmere turning into a tiny pony, and when Grandpere turned her back into a princess, he put on his prince clothes and then they went out and everyone asked for their autographs because they were my grandparents.

‘Gila’ is a word my grandpa picked up somewhere that means ‘crazy’, or so he has claimed for years. If it’s a fib, he’s really sticking to it. One postcard he sent me had a picture of a man driving a horse-drawn cart. They became ‘Mr. Pony and Mr. Ponyman’ and they’ve been part of our insider language ever since.

Another of our inside stoies were about how The Three Billy Goats Gruff weren’t just going over the bridge to chew on any old grass. No, they were going to the other side to chew on the sweet-smelling grass that tastes like gum. (Bubblegum, specifically. None of that mint stuff.)

Grandpa also used to send me cassette tapes where he’d read me stories. I remember quite clearly the one about the Billy Goats Gruff, but the others I cannot. I’d give a kidney to have those tapes now. It’s likely that in some bit of foolishness, I decided I was a grownup and didn’t need to hear kids’ stories anymore. Of course, at that age, I also thought my grandparents would live forever, and he could ALWAYS tell me the stories if I wanted to hear them again.

So very early on I associated overseas travel not only with adventure, but also with the idea that it would help you grow closer to people; not just new friends, but with the people you loved. In 1999, I put an application in at the Rotary to be a foreign exchange student.