Ever since I (Mark) was little I was always trying new things and being adventurous. One of my favorite memories of my craziness was when I was about 2-3 years old. I was playing with some toys in the backyard and noticed a fence was blocking off an area of the yard ( My moms house had a fence in the backyard as there was a wild field behind our house ). So I guess I decided to get a chair, prop it up to the fence, and try to climb over it. My mom saw a diaper and 2 legs dangling from the fence and quickly took me back down and away from the fence, a prelude to my crazy shenanigans I would sadly put my family through growing up lol!
We both have been blessed to have visited many great travel destinations and this post will recap some of my most exotic explorations thus far. Growing up in Wisconsin though, I had many vacations to the Wisconsin Dells, Lake Geneva, Chicago, up north, Minnesota and Florida for Disney World and even California! Those were all amazing places to visit, but I'm going to highlight some of more exotic locales.
One of my first big travel destinations occurred when I was 18 when I went to Canada with my family. We decided to see the Niagara falls, one of the modern world wonders in my opinion. It was also one of the first times I could gamble and drink legally haha. It was an amazing trip, getting to see the falls first hand and not just in photos was breathtaking. It also gave me my first taste in how people live in other countries and how different it truly can be. I remember seeing a few signs in French, everything was in kilometers and not miles, and of course the Canadian eyy? accent. Even though I ended up getting very sick, had to go to the hospital, and a few months later needed my tonsils removed, the trip helped me realize how big the world truly is. In stock market terms, it showed me that you really live in your own bubble in your hometown, and that it's healthy to either burst that bubble, or leave it from occasion to gain a new perspective.
My next big trip was Puerto Vallarta Mexico. I went with my family when I was 19. It was one of my first paradise vacations, with the white sand beaches, palm trees, crazy ocean wildlife and new culture. It's very intimidating and exciting going to a country, knowing that the people you encounter might not speak English or that your American dollars are no good and you need the countries currency. We did what many Americans typically do, and pretty much just stayed at our hotel and did the hotels excursions/ activities (which now looking back are good, but try to take some time in your vacations to do a few things off the beaten path). We did take a hotel shuttle to the nearby town to explore the shops and the churches, which was one of my favorite parts of the trip because you got see how some of the people in the town lived. This trip helped expand my perception of how other people lived, and gave me a sense of how peaceful the ocean and beautiful scenery can be, and how it can relaxing.
One of my favorite trips happened next when I was 20. I traveled with my sister and cousin to France and Italy, two of my favorite locations that I have ever visited! This trip showed me just how big the world was and how much fun and challenging traveling can be! This was a huge step for my sister and I, as this was our first out of country all by ourselves trip. We were lucky to have my cousin, as we probably couldn't have done the trip without him because he lived in Germany for a year and was used to backpacking across Europe. The trip started in Paris, France, the city of lights. I remember traveling in the cab to our hostel, seeing all of the people going about their business, seeing signs and store shops in French, seeing people with baguettes (yes that happens a lot there lol), and hearing the funny police sirens (meeee mooooo meeeee mooooo). Since we were in the big city of Paris, English was widely used an we only had to hand gesture and speak minimum French at some places. There's a stereotype that the French people are very rude, especially to Americans, and I hope to squash that stereotype as the French people were some of the nicest people I have ever met. As long as you try to speak French by saying bonjour or merci and at least attempt to speak their language, they will open up to you. But if you are the "ugly American" and speak only English, don't adhere to their customs, and expect to be waited on with super fast service that were used to in America, then yes you might meet some rude people but that would happen anywhere if you act like that. We stayed at a quaint little hostel right by Sacre Coeur church, which we could see from our window! We saw the Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triumph, the Lourve (la loo as it sounded like from the metro station), the catacombs, and a few other landmarks. We also celebrated New Years under the Eiffel Tower which was one of the trips many highlights!
We then flew from Paris to Italy and spent a few days in Rome. One of my idols is Leonardo Da Vinci, and it was awesome knowing that the airport we arrived at in Italy was named Leonardo Da Vinci airport! I remember the food in Italy was amazing, especially the spaghetti and pizza of course. It was also the first time I had gelato, which is now a staple in almost any big city in the US. We explored Roma, saw my favorite the Colosseum (gladiator is my favorite movie!), the Sistine chapel, the forum, and of course the Vatican. Being Catholic, visiting the Vatican was a very spiritual experience for me. Just standing in the basilica di san pietro (St Peter's Basilica) felt spiritual, just seeing all of the nuns, priests and statues of saints felt unworldly. We had an audience with the then current pope, Benedict the 16th, which was basically a giant prayer service with people from all over the world. The pope was treated basically like a rock star, as people would cheer and go crazy at the sight of him and what he would say. After Roma we rented a car to go visit with our extended family who live near Calabria in the small town of San Vincenzo. This was an awesome, once in a lifetime experience to visit with my extended family all because my grandmother is 100% Italian, and reached out to her other family members for a visit! What was so unique in this visit, is that we lived with our extended family who didn't speak any English, but we were able to still communicate through the internet or hand gestures. They were all so very welcoming and treated us very kindly and made feasts almost daily for us to enjoy! We truly felt like family, and took away some great once in a lifetime experiences from this trip as well as becoming closer to God.
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huli aʻu hoa pili Explore my friend
Mark & Jen
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