I know have had the pleasure of accompanying both of my children on their very first airplane flights. It is a great big deal to me since I have spent hundreds of hours on an different aircraft in flight, I make my living in the industry, and my children’s college fund only expands because of the security of the aircraft business. It is also a point of pride that I was part of an experience that they will remember for the rest of their lives. In a small way I also hope that I have planted the seed of wanderlust in them. I want them to travel to the ends of the earth and experience all that goes along with travel; learning self-sufficiency, broader views, a second or third language, cultural experience, etc…
When my daughter visited last year I accompanied her on her first ferry ride on which we crossed the waters of Puget sound for a Day trip on Bainbridge island. This summer I have have the great pleasure to not only take my son on his first ferry ride, but to also be with him on his first train trip and his first experience on a wooden sailboat. He loved the boat, I think, most of all and I can see a little spark of adventure travel starting to glow in his eyes. My daughter will take a little more work – right now she hates to travel, hates cities and hates making decisions, but who knows, I may get to visit my grandchildren in their 300 year old French farm house surrounded by fields of lavender along the southern portion of the Route Du Napoleon…
This year, the only real first I got to experience in the company of my presently-surly 15-year-old daughter was to take her to her first professional sporting event. We went to the Mariners vs. the Royals MLB game the night before she went home. There is something about being 15 that make one hate almost everything, but she seemed to have a genuinely good time. It didn’t hurt that we had AMAZING seats on the first-base line, eight rows up from the grass. Baby steps: a new experience close to home, a cool new sight here, some exotic food there, a fine novel set in a far away place, and BAM! I am getting postcards from Japan.
