How can Travel change the Views and Attitudes of Children and Families?
How can Travel change the Views and Attitudes of Children and Families?
By Michael Giarretto
This article is about how I first realized what travel is and what it means to me. Travel isn’t just packing your bags and going somewhere; it’s experiencing something that you wouldn’t experience at home. Yes, it should involve relaxing and de-stressing, but those 2 things could mean vastly different things to different people.
For me it all truly started when I was 8 years old in 1980. My family went to Paradise Island Resort and Casino for a week with another family, who we were very close with. To me, it was amazing to see this big hotel, the many pools, the white beach and crystal clear blue water. It was like something I had never seen before. What made it especially great was that my parents had honeymooned in Nassau in 1965, so they would tell us all about the changes since they were there and it was amazing how the Bahamas had changed so much.
We went all over the island, downtown Nassau, the Straw Market, snorkeling trips, and even other hotels. This was our first really big vacation as a family. We had done smaller trips to the Catskills, but this vacation was special. We ate at gourmet restaurants nightly and even the 4 kids got to go eat alone without the adults. I was the youngest, so for me, it was even more special. I remember that night like it was yesterday. The kids went to Coyaba (The Chinese Restaurant) and the adults went back to Café Martinique (The French Restaurant). I pretty much took control ordering for us since I wasn’t shy and the server was the same guy that had served us a few nights prior, his name was Roller Coaster. I order 3 orders of Lobster Cantonese shelled, who wants to get their hands all messed up, wonton soup for everyone, fried rice, and egg rolls. We all had ice cream for dessert, too. The bill came out to something like $600, but we were on the meal plan, so we didn’t care.
I know I can ramble on for hours about this trip, but for some reason I remember everything about it. When the week came to an end is when it all hit me. We took off from Nassau International Airport on a 727 back to JFK and I replayed the entire week we had with my family and the Schuman’s and it just brought a smile to my face. I turned to my father, who was sitting next to me, and said, “Dad, that was a really nice vacation.” He said, “Yeah, it was nice.” I said, “ Was it expensive?” He said, “Yeah, it was.” Then I said, “Well, I’m going to get good grades in school, so I can get a really good job and take lots of vacations like that.” He said, “ That would be great!”
That one trip changed my whole life. Ever since then I was always a straight A student and always wanted to go to more and more places. I had a thirst to see more places, taste different foods, and meet different people. I started taking French lessons around this time and I was obsessed about going to Paris. I wanted to see the Eiffel Tower more than anything. I have a neighbor to be thankful for that.
Nelly Catena was such a great lady. I was a friend of her daughter’s and since Nelly spoke many languages she told my Mom, “Let Michael come over and use the pool during the summer and I can teach the kids French, and they’ll have fun and learn.” I have to say a big Thank You to Nelly Catena for starting my passion to learn languages and maybe that’s how most languages come easy to me now, since I started so early.
The travel that I’ve done through my life has really molded me into the person that I have become today. Without those experiences I don’t think I would be where I am today.
After high school I went to college to study Finance. I then went on to work on Wall Street and have been working on Wall Street for 17 years. It’s at this point in my life that I feel that I’m ready for something different and follow my true passion. Travel is my passion and due to my career on Wall Street I have been fortunate enough to travel all over the place.
I’m writing about this to not only share short stories about my life, but to let the reader know how travel can truly inspire people and change their lives. Family vacations are some of the best memories I can remember while growing up and I think after the Paradise Island trip I was pretty much the travel researcher for the family for all our future trips. I would hound my parents all year as to where they are taking us this year. I know my parents loved it, but I did get to be annoying a little. My parents pretty much stuck to the standard beach vacations, but we always left the country, whether it was to an island in the Caribbean or to Acapulco, they always treated us to a great vacation.
I wouldn’t change a thing about they way I grew up, but I don’t want to brag about the vacations I took, since most were elaborate, but any family vacation away from home is important for the growth of the family. It’s times that a kid will never forget and I’m sure my parents felt it was priceless, too. Even now for me as a fairly new parent we took out son to Disney World when he was 18 months old and had a tear in my eye when he ran to Mickey and gave him the biggest hug and kiss. That was worth the price of admission itself.
The family growth is an important part, but as I got older I realized that travel was making me grow as a person. I was experiencing different cultures, art, and food. I was starting to appreciate things that I had in my life more than ever. When you talk to people about their culture and views all around the world it makes Americans appreciate what we have here. There are so many stereotypes of Americans and I need to write these blogs, so that we all don’t fall into them. Most people think Americans are fat and uncultured and just eat hot dogs and hamburgers and drink Coca Cola. We need to get out there and show them this is not true!
There is so much to see and learn from the world that we need to take advantage of vacations to get out there and sample the world and all it has to offer.
