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How did transportation open up your world?
By Carol / May 21, 2014 /
As a farm kid, getting my driver’s license was a huge step. Without it, the bus to and from school was my only option. With a license, I could participate in cheer leading, sports, choir, speech contests, and a multitude of other activities. A license was my ticket to the outside world.
Janet Givens
Since she lived on the Kazakh Steppe, Janet Givens has been exploring cultural differences and how they are bridged. She’s invited me to her blog to talk about how transportation plays into bridging those gaps as they did for me growing up on the farm and for Liddie, the main character in my upcoming novel Go Away Home.
Transportation: The path between worlds: Carol Bodensteiner
Posted by Janet Givens on May 21, 2014, in Crossing Boundaries, Life, Travel
I’m pleased to have Carol Bodensteiner join us this month. But in the interest of full disclosure, I will admit that for nearly the first year I was active in social media, I got Carol confused with Shirley Showalter. They both wrote memoirs of growing up on a farm, both had blond profile pictures, and both were from somewhere west of me. But I’d read Carol’s memoir Growing Up Country: Memories of an Iowa Farm Girl early on, so when Shirley announced the launch of her book, Blush, earlier this year, and I realized she’d grown up in Lancaster, PA, I figured it out.
I came to see these two remarkable women for what they truly are: twins separated at birth … (Read more)
How has transportation figured into expanding your world? Or restricting it? We invite you to join the discussion – here and on Janet’s blog.
Hi Carol, I’m debating opening up my world by traveling to Ecuador to see my daughter at Christmas. I’m not sure my husband is up to the trip so may be going alone or with my other daughter. Have you been there?
Another trip that expanded my world was a trailer trip possibly to settle in California in 1953 with husband, 3 year old, 9 month old and cocker spanial. No air conditioning then, or super highways. Once our world was expanded we hurried back home to New England.
One of the best parts of travel is having a home we love to return to. Making a trip as you did in 1953 must have been a great adventure.
I traveled to Quito, Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands as part of a small group tour three years ago. Before Ecuador, we had been to Peru. The experience was eye-opening and entirely pleasant. Quito is a beautiful city. The Galapagos Islands offered sights and experiences I’ll always place at the top of my life list. Since these countries are Spanish-speaking and that’s not a language I’m fluent in, I don’t know that I’d have gone solo. Since you have a daughter who presumably knows her way around to meet you when you arrive (even if you travel alone), I would think you’d be fine. Another great adventure for sure.