Beautiful Vibe

Travel: Earle Style

There's nothing like being called out with an active link to this blog from someone else's very popular blog to motivate me to post something. I have to thank John for doing this. It's like a writer's intervention telling me that I have a problem since my latest post had to be 6 months ago. I am pathetic.

John called me out because I have accused The Earle Family of many things, one of which is taking travel extremely seriously. Mere mortals have no idea of the amount of reading, researching, downloading, phone calling, and divination that is involved with their vacation plans. Their approach to travel is a religion, and I'm sure there are 10 travel commandments that Carol has etched in stone or cement tablets, which she made by hand. I only hope that I get to read them soon, because next year I am taking my first trip to Europe with John's daughter Amy.

I am seriously afraid I will fail at traveling Earle-style, largely because I grew up traveling less "Earlesque" than I would have liked. My family rarely traveled, and I admit, I have done and said some things in front of Amy that make me a less than attractive travel companion. For instance, I said that parts of the Bahamas were "like a third world nation" and I was actually plagued with spontaneous diarrhea when Amy wanted to take public transportation. I know it sounds ridiculous and I am not proud of those comments or events. However, I had to explain to Amy that when it comes to travel, I'm like a pre-schooler. They just say whatever comes to mind and poop in their pants all day. She seemed to appreciate the parallel that was drawn and I think she felt sorry for me. Who wouldn't?

Over the last three years I have taken great strides with my traveling skills. I would say I'm about a junior in high school now which is quite a good evolution if you ask me. I was quite surprised when Amy asked me to go to Spain next year for my birthday. It was like a rite of passage being asked on an Earle vacation. I kind of welled up when she invited me.

I realize it's not truly an Earle vacation because it will just be the two of us. I have not penetrated the holy circle that is a true Earle Family vacation such as their yearly ski trip. This has been something I have envied for years. They all wear matching sweaters, go to Colorado for a week and ski. It's sweet, it's quaint, it's all that my family vacations never were. Since I am not a family member, I realize this door is closed to me, but I have a plan. My husband and I are just going to show up one year. We'll show them. We'll make our own damn sweaters.

posted by T. @ 9:51 PM