“I am not the same having seen the moon from the other side of the world.”
Perhaps I became passionate about travel because the only travel we ever did when I was a child was to see Grandma and Grandpa. While I loved them both, those visits were anything but exciting. My desire to travel showed up early with interests other girls my age didn’t share. In my pre-teen
years I began collecting dolls – not Barbie dolls, but ones representing countries outside the US and dressed in the clothing of their culture. I started reading all the travel books I could find, whether novels like Hawaii or Thor Heyerdahl’s adventures in Easter Island. I made a silent vow that when I grew up, I would see the world! At the time I didn’t realize I had created a powerful affirmation.
At 16 years old, my first travel adventure was only 100 miles from home, a summer job as a waitress in Ocean Beach, NJ. Those of us in the restaurant jokingly referred to it as Ocean Grave because it seemed
so boring to us! But – I was away from my home, earning money, and on my own! The restaurant only served breakfast and dinner, so after cleanup in the morning several of us usually went off to the beach and the boardwalk. Sadly, I was abruptly fired before the end of the summer because I swore back at the German owner when she swore at me! This taught me to keep my sharp Scorpio tongue under control.
The next few summers I also worked away from home, first as a telephone operator at a camp in the Adirondacks and later as an intern in a research lab at the University of Pennsylvania. These experiences taught me a lot about adapting to new environments, making new friends, adjusting to the requirements of a new supervisor, and best of all, dating without having to tell my mother where I was going. Independence and making money felt exhilarating.
And then the big opportunity arrived. When I was a junior in college, there was a notice on a bulletin board offering students the chance to work in a country in Europe for the summer. YES, said my mind
and heart. The catch – there was a cost involved because it included airfare and placement. While my parents were initially skeptical, they finally relented and paid for my trip. So, at 19 years old, naïve, but excited, I joined a group of students from all over the US, flying from NY to Amsterdam on a prop plane that took 8 hours. (Yes, this was a few decades ago!) Four of us had summer jobs in London so we only spent one night in Amsterdam, but it was truly the beginning of a new type of education. Bare breasted women leaned out of windows and called to the men. The odor of marijuana lingered in some areas. With some relief, I was glad to be going on to conservative England.
Once we arrived in London, the four of us separated because the jobs we were assigned were in different areas. Growing up in a small town in NJ, I’d never been on a subway before, or as it’s called in England, the Underground. But I quickly got used to it and other new things like the English money – pence and pounds- and did my best to understand the different accents and ways of pronouncing words. The excitement of it all outweighed the anxiety of all the new adjustments.
For my work assignment, I was sent to the headquarters of Lyons Tea Shops and expected to be a waitress. But once there, the interviewer decided to send me to an elegant French restaurant across from Hyde Park as a 3 week replacement for the hat and coat check girl who was going on vacation! Along with my wages at the restaurant, the new waiters practiced their serving techniques with myself and 3 others. The food was delicious, and I gained 10 pounds in 3 weeks.
Once my 3 weeks in the French restaurant were done, I was off to a Lyons Tea Shop across the Westminster bridge over the Thames. The waitresses hailed from several different countries and were a boisterous bunch when customers weren’t around. One of them, Jenny from Ireland, had a raunchy sense of humor and kept us laughing. She befriended me like a younger sister, told me there was one vacancy in the large house where she rented an upstairs bedroom, and suggested I move there. The landlord looked just like Winston Churchill, and he and his wife had great stories to tell about mistaken identity. Jenny and I spent Sundays, our only day off from the tea shop, visiting the historical sites I’d only read about before. It was a magical time of youthful freedom and new discoveries about myself and the world.
As my time to return to New Jersey grew close, I reflected on the gifts of my time in England. I was certainly more confident within myself for meeting new people and adjusting to a different environment. I had a new appreciation for another culture and its’ history. And most important, I realized that regardless of where someone is from, we share the same hopes and dreams, insecurities and doubts. We all want to be accepted and loved.
After that summer it over 20 years before I traveled outside the US again. But in that time, I made many inner journeys as my spiritual path unfolded and my desire to be of service evolved into my life’s work.
-Patricia Crane, Ph.D., is the author of Ordering from the Cosmic Kitchen: The Essential Guide to Powerful, Nourishing Affirmations. It is available on amazon.com or her website, www.drpatriciacrane.com, or through local bookstores. Patricia also heads aworldwide training program in Louise Hay’s philosophy. Go to www.healyourlifetraining.com for details or call 800-969-4584