Around and Around

Lately, I’ve cast my mind back on all of the international travel I did. I sure saw a lot of this old world. I’m still able enough to travel. Just not as motivated.

The first time I flew overseas I worked in a massive Waldhotel (country hotel) in the German Rheingau (Rhine Valley). All around for a full 360 degrees, vineyards bearing plump white grapes were everywhere I looked. This is the home of Liebfraumilch, the famous Blue Nun white wine, among many others.

The massive hotel restaurant I worked in mostly served tourists as its main clientele. Busloads would arrive shortly before noon. Getting all of the travellers fed and watered in a timely manner was a challenge. We would be running between the kitchen and serving tables for the better part of two-hours over the lunch period.

I struggled with German at first having set off from “Kanada” with only one year of university German under my belt. Luckily, the menu wasn’t too complicated and I could rhyme it off easily enough. In any case, the tourists were more interested in their food and drink than my German skill. As long as I got their orders right.

Had a bit of culture shock as a young foreign kellnerin (waitress). I remember a group of nuns who all ordered beer with their meals. Nuns drink alcohol? I saw a four-year-old boy sway back and forth as he whined to his father he was betrunken (drunk) after imbibing too much wine with his meal.

I flew over to Germany again in the summer after my second year of university. This time, I was a student attending Freiburg University with a bunch of other Canadian kids. My German picked up much more quickly. The in-depth studies were more rigorous and demanding on my German proficiency than reciting the choices off the daily Nach Eigner Wahl (a la carte) menu.

The summer following my third year, I went to Cairo, Egypt. I had been chosen as the UNB (University of New Brunswick, Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada) representative on a national World University Service of Canada (WUSC) scholarship. Former Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau had previously gone on such a seminar elsewhere in Africa in his student days. Trudeau became a lifelong WUSC supporter.

I studied Egyptian small business and tourism during the seminar. Our “downtime” was spent roaming the streets of Cairo stopping for shawarma and visiting places such as the Cairo Museum. All of downtown Cairo was a study in antiquities. We had field trips to Alexandria on coast of the Mediterranean Sea and down the Nile to Luxor before the area was flooded for the Aswan Dam. We sailed in an Egyptian felucca on the Nile River. On another day we took part in a Nubian feast deep in the desert.

Summer approaches and there have been discussions in our house about summer travel again. ehave talked about returning to Florence for a month or two. My husband paints in oil and was trained in a Florence art studio some years ago. He would like to go back. We are only at the dream stage at the minute. But haven’t I already said that is how most dreams start?

A cross-Canada train trip is also a possibility. I have travelled from Toronto to Jasper, Alberta. Once you get past the unending horizons in the Prairies, the Rockies loom large and imposing. There are few sights more breathtaking than a first glimpse of the towering Rockies. It is no wonder that Banff and nearby mountain towns are awash in tourists for a good part of every year.

So we’ll see what actually happens.

My compass has turned to more internal exploration these days. That particular element was missing in my earlier travel exploits. Did I ever make some major culturally inappropriate decisions. I am much better now.

I have said that I learned that wherever I go, there I am. Happily, now that I’ve been around the world and back, those destinations will now live in my memory until I die. By writing down some of my travel stories, they may live on a little longer.