An Unusual but Wonderful Travel Trio

 I like to travel. Okay, I love to travel, Over the past few months I have written extensively about my world adventures. For me, visiting new places, to see them, experience them and learn from them, fills me with me tremendous energy and life. I am lucky that I have family and friends all over the world and am privileged to visit exciting destinations with all kinds of different people. Two of my favourite travel companions are my son, Matthew, and my mother-in-law, Barbara. As I type this I am seated between them on a plane headed for Seattle, Washington. For the next week, we will be an unusual, but wonderful, travel trio.

When you hear about three generations traveling together it is often a grandmother, mother and daughter, or three generations of men going off together. My friends share stories about weekends with their sisters or their mothers, and sometimes their daughters.

But there aren’t too many women who travel with their young sons. There are even fewer women who choose to travel with their mother-in-law. Barbara and I have traveled the world together, and I couldn’t find a better travel companion. As soon as we arrive at the airport we are in sync. We like to plan, but not too much. We like to be on time when we go places, but not too early. Walking and exploring new places is what we love to do, but we also find time to sit back and relax.

Matthew may not look like me at all, with his thick head of hair, olive skin, army green eyes and gorgeous eyelashes. But there is one way to describe his personality: Mini Me. He thinks like me and sleeps like me. He loves sports, he is bright and he is kind to his friends and family. And he has the travel bug too.

So, late in the summer, when Barbara announced to me that she wanted to take her annual trip to Seattle to visit her sister, I decided it was time to form a new travel trio that included me, my son and my mother-in-law.

I will admit it was a rocky start on Wednesday afternoon when I rushed home from work and scrambled to throw some final items into our luggage. We finally left for the airport when I suddenly realized that I left my computer charger at home. So we turned around, lost 5 minutes then finally headed to the airport. We frantically jumped out of the car and rushed to the check-in desk to drop off our luggage and move through security and immigration.

Once the three of us arrived at the departure gate we knew the fun had begun. We could take a breath and relax. Our travel trio was ready for our adventure across the continent. Over the next week I will share some of my experiences with you as we visit our family in Seattle and Friday Harbor. There will be some sight-seeing, relaxing and for sure a lot of eating. I will introduce you to our Washington State family, who are the most gracious and wonderful hosts.

I invite you along for the ride on the first adventure of our newly formed travel trio.