How I Came to Spend 115 Days Away From Home with My Mom
Besides my wonderful husband, my loving family and my dearest friends, the top things I love are:
1. Mallow Cups (my dad loved those too!)
2. York Peppermint Patties
3. TRAVELING!!!
I love candy, but Mallow Cups and York Peppermint Patties are the best! I always ask my students to save me one from their after Halloween Trick or Treating! Although I don't think too many people pass them out anymore!
But besides candy, I love traveling. I find it interesting, exciting, fascinating. I love seeing the sights, the old buildings, the different architectures, the mountains, the beaches, and the list goes on and on!
I am a teacher, a seventh grade Earth and Space to be exact. I didn't plan on becoming a teacher nine years ago when I first graduated college. I was to be a doctor, I told myself I will go to grad school to get my Masters in teaching, but that would just be a stepping stone for Medical School. I was fortunate to get a teaching job, and never looked back! It became the best decision I made!
At first, I was teaching fourth grade at the elementary school I went to, my mentor was my kindergarten teacher. I taught fourth grade for two years, then transferred to my old junior high school, teaching alongside teachers that once taught me. I taught eighth grade Earth and Space for the past 6 years and this year I am teaching seventh grade because the Earth and Space curriculum was switched to seventh!
I always enjoyed going on vacation growing up. We went to Disney a few times, Niagara Falls, Florida, and even went on the Disney Cruise. All fun things but just your normal family summer vacations. Although one year, my mom had a brilliant idea to tour the Northwest US on a bus. We went to Yellowstone, Jackson Hole, Butte - Montana, Salt Lake City, Seattle, Vancouver, and then take a cruise to Alaska. It was great!
I spent a month in Boston with my friend Shaughna during college, but never did a semester in another country. I did go to Spain during high school. I did go with my family to Las Vegas, then from there went to LA to visit Shaughna while she was training in Krav Maga! I went on vacation with my cousin Colleen and her family, Sean and my brother Greg to Myrtle Beach. I went on spring break trips with my friends during college. One time to the Bahamas and then one year we decided to go to Fort Myers. The Allegheny baseball team was there - I am not sure what we were thinking! Who goes to Fort Myers for spring break?
It wasn't until I became friends with Amy, that I started traveling MORE! Even though she ended up leaving after my first year of teaching, we somehow remained friends. She said she was going to go to Europe on a backpacking trip! So I invited myself! We didn't end up backpacking, but we did go to 16 countries in Europe...England, France, Spain, Italy, Vatican, Greece, Albania, Croatia, Austria, Bosnia, Slovenia, Germany, Liechtenstein, Montenegro, Switzerland, and the Netherlands. It was awesome!
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| Amy and I at the Swiss Alps in Switzerland! |
Well, that started it... My Traveling and Photography Obsessions!
Since then I spent a month in France. I traveled the country with my friend, and fellow teacher, Jen. We went to Paris, Normandy, Arromanches, Aix-en-Provence, Nimes, Monaco, Monte Carlo, Cannes, Nice, Pont du Gard, Avignon, the Loire Valley and Mont St. Michel - which became one of my Favorite places!
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| Chateau de Chambord, Loire Valley, France |
Then I spent another month in Italy, also with Jen, where we went to Rome, Pisa, Florence, the Chianti Region, Milan, Verona, Venice, Lake Garda, Portovenere, the Amalfi Coast, Sorrento, Capri, and Cinque Terre - which also has been added to the best places I have been too!
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| Venice! |
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| Florence! |
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| At Lake Garda |
I have traveled back to Paris for New Years and Sean proposed while we were there on New Years Day! Sean and I went also to Cancun and Puerto Aventuras Mexico, Las Vegas a number of times, Disney World and Bermuda for Jill's wedding.
After our wedding, we spent our Honeymoon traveling the South Pacific for 35 days. We went to Beachcomber Island and Mantaray Island in Fiji.
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| Our Hut in Fiji! |
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| Sky Diving in New Zealand! |
Then we ended our wonderful honeymoon in Tahiti, Moorea, and Bora Bora in the French Polynesian Islands!
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| Sean and I in Bora Bora! |
This summer I went to Arizona with my mom and Aunt Judy and we traveled to Tucson, Sedona, Flagstaff and the Grand Canyon!
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| The Red Rocks of Sedona! |
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| The Grand Canyon! |
Sean and I also spent three weeks in Hawaii on the islands of Oahu, Maui and the Big Island.
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| Sean and I in Oahu! |
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| North Shore Beach! |
I am very luckily to have traveled to so many places! I love to see things, so what else is there to see? How about a Cruise Around the World?
Never in a million years did I think I would have the opportunity to sail around the world! I always dreamed of itm but never really thought it would come true! This will give me the chance to see everything I possibly can, to take pictures (I have now become addicted to photography), to try new foods (I have learned to appreciate great food), to learn about new cultures, and so many other cool things!
This whole thing started because my friend and I were planning on how we could spend a long time in another country! Which turned into getting a plane ticket around the world - which is very expensive! Then I looked into semester at sea, but I need to have my doctorate to teach on the ship. So that made me look into cruises around the world... and to my surprise, they exist! But how could I do that? I had to consider work and who I would go with!
First step: I applied for a leave of absence from school and I was approved!
Second step: I need to find someone to go with me! At first, I asked my friend Jen to go, but she couldn't. Then, I asked my husband, Sean, but he couldn't get off work. Since my mom and Sean thought it would be a VERY BAD idea for me to go by myself, that meant my mom would have to go with me! I could not pass up this opportunity, plus I don't have children yet, so it would be the perfect time! I just had to convince my mom to come with me. My mom has so many things she needs to take care of on a daily basis. My dad passed away on January 20th, the hardest and saddest day of our lives. My mom has not stopped since he passed away. She has paperwork galore, tons of this form and that form, the most crazy things have happened, and she has held it all together, she is great! Her most recent escapade is trying to sell my dad's dental office, but she found someone, who is awesome and has now bought the practice, made it her own and it has done a great job! My dad would be proud! Well, convincing my mom to go was pretty difficult, but it worked! I also tried to get my brother to come to, but he couldn't leave work and he is going back to school - the responsible one!
I am also creating a Virtual Learning Environment for everyone to enjoy! I will be posting information about each port and city we go to! I am going to include everything I can about the city, from its location, to the geography, the climate, the time in that city, what it is famous for, information about artists and musicians, a whole bunch of earth facts and anything else I can find! Then after I visit the area, I am going to tell about our experiences and hopefully, if the wifi is good, upload pictures of our trip!
That is how I got to where I am! I have had many people ask how I can leave Sean, and although it will be very hard to not see him for over four months, we both know that this is a wonderful and awesome experience! He is so supportive and happy for me, it makes it easy to go!
I know this may sound crazy to some people, but I am excited! I think my mom is excited too, even though she probably has no idea where we are going or what we are doing! Although she did go to Arizona with me, so she knows how I travel - see everything all the time with little relaxing! That is just the way I travel! Luckily for her, there are sea days where I will be trapped on a boat with no places to drag her to see!
Here begins our journey....
