For quite some time now the idea for a class like this has been slowly growing in my mind. At the very heart of TTV is my love of travel. Wandering in a new city fills me with wild joy. The thought that I can experience this sense of wonder and share it with you through writing, photos, videos, and my travel journal pages is very exciting. My heart always breaks a little when people tell me they long to travel, but can’t for various reasons. I always want to pack them up and tuck them into my suitcase.
It wasn’t so very long ago that I put on my travel shoes for the very first time. An invitation from a friend to visit his family in Greece for Christmas of 2001 is how it all began. Tickets were dirt cheap back then and I was hungry for a big adventure. So off I went to meet my friend in Athens. I was nervous and drunk with anticipation. It would be my first experience of Europe as an adult. I arrived a few days ahead of my friend and off I went to his mother’s apartment in Athens. Olga spoke not a word of English. For 3 days we communicated through pictures and sign language over tiny cups of thick Greek coffee. I slept in her bed and she slept on the couch in the living room. She insisted! It was complicated and chaotic and wonderful. That Christmas in Greece was rich beyond what I had imagined. I remember sitting in the airplane on my way home and thinking how easy it was to hop on a plane and fly across the globe. In my mind I had made it seem so difficult, so impossible. Something that other people did, not me. Going to Greece made me realize that I could travel whenever I wanted, and by myself if necessary. What a revelation!
AN IDEA: make the background transparent then cut & paste to use the printables digitally
The next year I took a 2 week solo trip to Mexico, then Paris. By that time, my sister decided to join me once a year. Nowadays I don’t hesitate to travel alone if she isn’t available, or I can’t find a travel partner. I feel at ease by myself in new places and I have discovered that solo travel is very different and very special.
So here I am. And there you are. And we’re getting ready to make this trip together online. I’m so appreciative of this opportunity to combine my love of travel, my love of journaling, and the joy of teaching together in one package. A heady cocktail for me, and one which I hope you’ll enjoy too!
So excited for this class!! 🙂
Ha Ha Hi Renee! That’s my sister! I am so excited to be here too! This is going to be great fun!
hey michelle & renee I LOVE that my first 2 registered class members are SISTERS!!!!!
OOOhhh, while traveling through Belgium, I stopped for a while to subscribe to this class. Now it needs to become 15th of December so we can get this party started. I am so keen to start… grin. Downloaded the pdf’s already, so when I come home I will be able to print them out, thanks Mary Anne…
LET THE FUN BEGIN!!!!
Catherine
I’m here and ready to go!!!!! I am apparently fourth to sign in. Can you tell I am ready!
I will start blogging this adventure.
So excited to be here! This is my third MAM Class and I can’t tell you how much I enjoy them. I have never traveled outside the USA (Except to Canada) and I have decided it is time to start seeing the world. Mary Ann you are truly an inspiration! My daughter and I will be traveling to Europe in 2014 (already starting saving)and we plan on seeing Paris, Italy, Poland, Budapest and a few other stops as well. Any travel suggestions/advice from my classmates would be welcomed! Did I mention my fear of flying? I’ve done it quite a few times, just never feel comfortable with the idea – any ideas there would be welcome as well. Thank you, Carol 🙂
woo hoo! Venice, here I virtually come!
Carol — when I fly home to Australia, the plane leaves in the evening, so after dinner, I drink a glass of port (which when your husband travels beaucoup much but never takes you means you can upgrade into a different cabin which for a 14 hour flight is so worth it) and then go to sleep. Hey presto, you wake up and you’re getting breakfast and you’re almost there.
I can’t remember what I did for traveling to Europe though …
(Oh and obviously keep hydrated to counteract the dehydration you get from both the plane and the wine)
Hey gang
super duper excited to be taking this trip with all of you guys. Are we there yet, are we????? Dec 15th can’t come soon enough.
hola, my sweet traveling sisters! may our trip together be joyous, lovely, and filled with lots of fun. time to add a little kahlua to my cafecito *clinking to your cup* \_/>
YAY! Can’t wait to start. Just popping out now to buy some wardrobe staples — pens, paper and waders:) Make sure you post some Venetian cocktail recipes too.
I said it before, but seriously, YOU rock!!! So excited to embark on this adventure.
Yahoooo! Venice he we come!!!! Mary Ann, you are my travel fairy godmother. I can’t wait to get started on this adventure with you and all of my friends here!
Hello MAM and fellow classmates – SO happy to be here! I’ve been excited about this since the day you’ve announced it. I feel like it will answer so many questions and give me so much to think about with my travel journals. I believe I have a ‘gypsy soul’ with travelling. I’m always trying to think of ways to make the travel journal better and easier to actually keep up on when one is exhausted at the end of a day of tromping around the streets of Rome, or wherever, so this will be wonderful!
So excited to tuck myself in MAMs suitcase and do some armchair travelling. Last year I participated in a performance of a series of poems written by a friend about the Ospedale della Pieta, the foundling hospital/musical school in Venice where Vivaldi taught. So happy to virtually revist Venice again!!! And this time w/o the petticoat and corset and gown! LOL
I think you are very brave to travel by yourself, and I hope I can be that brave someday too! I have traveled alone with the US, but never abroad. I feel like notice and enjoy the same things I would if I were in all the wonderful place you visit, so it’s a treat to be one of your virtual traveling companions. Thanks for all the lovely printables and inspiration!
Returning to Venice with you for the first time since my young and foolish days in 1967. (These days I consider myself more or less just foolish :o) Initially I went to Europe for three months. I stayed three years, and may have rooted myself along the Mediterranean if it hadn’t been for pressure from ‘the fam’. So, I’ve now got ‘my ticket to ride’. Can’t wait MAM. Such a brilliant idea. Such a lot of prep work, which naturally is done in the exquisite MAM manner. So very appreciated. Can’t wait to board the plane. I always pre order a cognac. Settles me right down. Here’s to all of us. xoDonna
You may just be my inspiration to stop dreaming and just go for it. I have a long list of places I would like to visit and you have already been to some of them. Can we suggest where you might go next and take us along?
this little virtual vacation is just what I need right now. don’t forget to pack your wellies to wade through the overflowing canals!
Fiona:)
I’m in and ready to go! I went to Venice on my honeymoon in 1988. Next October will be my 25th anniversary and my husband and I are planning a trip back, so I will be Reading the travel posts with interest, checking off the places I’ll have to see in person. Have a good trip, Mary Ann, can’t wait to see what you’ll find when you get there!
I’m glad I was able to sign up at the last minute. I’d seen people blabbing about it around town but didn’t know when it started. Coincidentally I was up late last night and saw it again somewhere and said: okay, what the hell IS this? And whammo.
We are tres looking forward to a trip to London/Amsterdam next year after our trip to Paris a couple of years ago, and I’m so itching to go abroad that this is JUST the thing I needed.