“Perhaps travel cannot prevent bigotry, but by demonstrating that all peoples cry, laugh, eat, worry, and die, it can introduce the idea that if we try and understand each other, we may even become friends”
Maya Angelou

Photograph by Xavier Photographic Art
These days we can only dream of the places we want to see and yearn for the ability to not only leave our homes but travel to those places near and far. I do not know when that will be for me, but it will happen again. Whenever or wherever I travel whether locally, within the United States, or around the world, it is a means to see and learn about other people and cultures. The sights, sounds and smells that we know are only expanded and enriched by the sights, sounds and smells that we do not know.

Photograph by Xavier Photographic Art
A great vacation is one that evokes feelings that take you back to re-experience every single moment and even remember moments that you did not realize you had forgotten. It can bring you joy when the day seems to be going nowhere except where it went the day before. It can inspire you to try to re-create that great dinner that you had or the fresh baked bread you ate or dance to the music that you heard. All I need to do it put on some great Latin music and I am immediately transported to the streets of Cuba or some African music and I am having dinner with my husband as the sun sets over the Serengeti.

Photograph by Xavier Photographic Art
You can do this, too. It does not have to be a trip to Europe. It could be a remembering special dinner with a loved one, a night under the stars at an outdoor concert – you pick the moment. You pick the event! You take yourself there and for just those few moments you can take another trip and make this day that much more special. The next best thing for me is to think back to travels I have already experienced. Today I am remembering what may have been the highlight of my travels – our African safari. It was like nothing I have ever experienced. The sights, the sounds, the smells, the welcoming people. I remember all of it, every single moment of it and those memories bring me joy. Find your moment and relive it!

Photograph by Xavier Photographic Art