A world traveler I am not, but a world admirer I am.
I travel daily, via the blogs I visit. I admire how fellow bloggers across the world welcome visitors to their space. And how they share photos with words accompanying them to describe places called ‘home’ in this world. It’s like shooting the breeze with dear old friends.
I love being a stay-at-home traveler. Plus I can wear my jammies – it’s a comfortable day trip.
When we do travel, though, we take with us our home. It is never very far away from us in our thoughts. We tend to release that tie, for just a bit, as we take in the scenery, and discover how much we’re different, as well as how much we’re alike.
The closest I’ve been to Paris, France, is the time we shared hosting a foreign exchange daughter. We fell in love with her so much, she felt like one of our own. It was summer 10 years ago. Wow! See, I told you I (we) don’t travel much! Our youngest went to visit their family the following year during a school trip to France.
Her family welcomed our daughter, just like we welcomed theirs – with open arms and the warmth of ‘home’. We still stay in touch, once a year, via email. Us moms update statuses of the ‘kids’ who have all grown and flown the coop. I hear our (their) daughter flew like a warm breeze across the ocean and now lives here in the US, in New York.
The day she left she wanted to take some curls (like her American sisters and mom) with her on her trip home. We did our best to accommodate the request.
We took family portraits to make sure we didn’t forget how well we fit together and how much we adored her visit with us.
Oh, yeah, they were 3 peas in a pod – 3 teenage girls who know how to have fun together. It’s no wonder I cried for days after she left.
Our youngest has been the only one in the family to travel to Paris. As a parent, who is not a world traveler, the act of putting your child in the hands of strangers across the ocean, in a different time zone, at a distance away that doesn’t accommodate driving our Durango to the rescue, it was a growing experience for all of us.
We obviously survived the adventure, and treasure the memories of the time we fell in love with our travels to/from Paris. Sarah got to see the Eifel Tower in person and brought us a statue to remember it.
Whenever I think of that time of exchanges in our lives, I smile.
I have the replica tower stored dust-free (mostly – if dust gets in there it deserves the space it takes) in my china cabinet. It sits next to this delicate silk handkerchief that my step-father brought his wife when he visited there.
I found the handkerchief in my mom’s house when I was blessed with the task of ‘taking care of all the belongings’. I don’t really know the story behind it. I do know he served in the war in the ’40s. Yep – it’s dated, too – so at least I’ve got that part of the story right!
I’m assuming he bought it as a gift for her from France. He, no doubt, thought fondly of ‘home’ while he was there. I’m sure Paris at that time looked and felt much different from how it feels now? The feeling of getting to go back home likely warmed his heart.
I don’t know if I’ll ever take a trip to Paris, France. But, I do know, I’ll always treasure the time in the life we experienced and fell in love with a daughter from France, who fit right into our ‘home’. For that, I shall always have a fondness and love for Paris.
Post Inspiration – Linda G. Hill’s #JusJoJan – Paris, prompt thank you to Kelli who has traveled to Paris! And, I’m squeaking in the theme for Dutch Goes The Photo – Tuesday photo challenge – Breeze.
PS – Have you been to Paris? What did you enjoy most about your trip? If not, do you know someone who has gone there? If you live there, what do you love about Paris?
Lovely post, Shelley! Your exchange student did seem to fit in, just like one of your girls! I’m not a big traveler, but I did spend the most glorious 24 hours in Paris and would give my eye teeth to go back!
Thank you, Rebecca! 24 hours…and then you were gone – WOW, that’s awesome you have such vivid memories of such a brief time frame!
I love the way you travel abroad…in your jammys. That is how I travel as well. I have not been either but my daughter has and swears she will go again. She wants me to go but I have no desire. I can see what I want to see sitting on my sofa and enjoy the blogging world photography. That is so much more fun as we get to share the friendships of knowing someone who lives there.
Thank you for being a fellow blogger in the jammy traveling club! Yes, my youngest had so much fun, I’m sure she’d go back if she had the chance to go. We made a promise to go to Australia together…first…but haven’t done that yet…! Oh, dear…! But, like you said, we go many places a day visiting blogs, that’s gotta count for some travel points?!
Absolutely
I don’t know why but France has never been somewhere I’d want to visit, although really, I prefer to travel like you, in the comfort of my own home. How fun to have an exchange student.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts, Janet. We’re kindred traveling spirits 😉 Yes, it was a joy to have a French daughter for a summer!
We did visit Paris, as well as Normandy and the Beaches to see where my FIL served. It was an amazing trip, and I’d go back to Paris in a heartbeat. We were, however, both working in traveling jobs and used a lot of frequent flier miles and hotel points, so it would probably be a different trip now. 🙂 I love your souvenirs – that handkerchief is just lovely.
Thank you for the compliment on the hanky, and for sharing your adventures with me. I’ve heard that is a fascinating trip route that you took. It would be nice to have lots of frequent flier miles and hotel points to use!
Just go go go to Paris. I love Paris. It is always the last place we stay before flying back to Australia. Spending a week there is not enough. Just go Shelley, just go
Aw, thank you for the vote and encouragement to go, Brian!
What a sweet memory! I’ve been to Paris several times and it’s just one of my favorite places ever! I studied French for five years in high school and college and love to dust off my accent when I’m there. It just captures my imagination so. My youngest child studied there during his junior year, about four years ago. That’s the last time I was there and I can’t wait to go back. We love to travel, but also love coming home. Definitely try to break out of your comfort zone. There’s so much of the world to experience in person! Love the famiiy pictures, too. Your “daughter,” definitely has the French cool girl vibe, even at that young age.
I did travel a lot in the 70s and early 80s and France and Italy were on my bucket lists for European countries, especially Paris. Interestingly, I had five close friends the last year of high school. We were inseparable and one of the girls (Sheila) was involved in American Field Service and her family hosted a girl our last year of high school. It was not to be reciprocal since it was during Sheila’s senior year of high school. It was understood that Anna was also in her last year of high school and same age as Sheila. The experience was not as wonderful as yours though Shelley, because Anna was here from Brazil and didn’t want to hang out with Sheila, nor us. Anna wanted to hang out with the boys. 🙂 She soon got involved with a group, and made her own hours, never reporting her whereabouts to Sheila’s parents, never coming home half the time. Sheila’s parents decided to let the year just play out and not make waves because it would reflect badly on American Field Service for not vetting their candidate better. Anna got sick – can’t remember if it was measles or chicken pox but one of the traditional childhood diseases. She got really sick and was running a high fever, couldn’t keep food down and was taken the E.R. where they discovered Anna was 23 years old. She was sent back to Brazil as soon as she was well and able to travel, regardless of how it looked for AFS.
WOW – YIKES – that’s scary, and a not-so-wonderful foreign exchange student story. The guts of some people amaze me! I’ve heard horror stories from friends too, so I’m thankful we were lucky and did have a great experience.
You were very lucky – Sheila’s parents were saints about it, but after that part, they were quick to ship Anna back where she came from!
I think I would’ve done the same!
Beautiful photos! Thank you for sharing!
Thank you!
It looks like a successful “visit”
I see “sourire” and all I can think of is Soeur Sourire, who sang “Dominique” and earned that name because she was always smiling.
C’est ce que je définirais par l’expression: l’attraction des antipodes.
A vrai dire, entre une température annoncée de 2°C avec de la neige et celle de 40°C à Sydney, aujourd’hui, beaucoup de français n’hésiteraient pas à partir en Australie, s’ils en avaient la possibilité.
Pour ce qui est de Paris, je crois que cette agglomération a un pouvoir d’attraction énorme. Le mérite t-elle? Oui et non. Beaucoup de touristes sont déçus à leur arrivée par la saleté, la pollution atmosphérique, l’insécurité… malgré la beauté de cette ville et tous les lieux d’intérêt. Ayant pu comparer avec Manhattan en 2016 pour LLL, je les comprends. Mais la France est un pays plein de pépites touristiques. Ma vision est celle d’une provinciale qui aime la nature et la randonnée.