Travels

After I became an adult, it took a few years of working to earn enough money to blow on a vacation. Back in the 1970s, employers in the US didn't award much time-off to employees. My first jobs were with local businesses, and I had no time-off at all. I finally landed a job with a Fortune-500 company. My first real vacation as an adult was merely a long-weekend, as I was only given three days-off for the entire year. The next year, I was awarded four days, and after being at the company for a full three years, I was finally awarded five days of vacation time.

Over the next several years, there were always so many expenses as young adults have: purchasing a house, maintaining said house, maintaining automobiles, raising children, that there never was much money for travel. During that time, we only took small trips, to Gatlinburg for the day, or Carowinds, and places like that. After a number of years, we finally were able to vacation at the beach for a few years in a row.

Then came a downturn in the economy and all businesses laid-off workers. During that time, too, employers began changing their business-models and it became increasingly more difficult to find work than it had been previously. Gone, too, were the days where hard-work and dedication would ensure one had a job. Vacations became a luxury that few people could afford, aside from a long-weekend at the beach or such.

So, I haven't done much traveling in my life. I decided to map my travels to see how much of the country they covered. This first map shows in green the places that I have been while traveling on a personal level, or while I was on a school-related trip while I was in college.

^{• MAP BY U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY, ENHANCEMENT BY ME •}

I had four jobs in my life where occasional travel was required, and I was able to see parts of the country that I had not seen. I was flown to Los Angeles on business twice, once to San Francisco, once to New Orleans (although I had traveled there twice on collegiate business), and three times to Boston. So, all of those awesome trips took me to far-away places without seeing the countryside except from the aircraft window. I was also flown to Chicago once for a business meeting, but was whisked via company van from the airport to the meeting in a suburb, put-up in a hotel overnight, then whisked back to the airport the next morning; that hardly constitues "visiting" the area.

The other jobs where travel was required involved driving. Much of that travel was over areas where I had already been for personal reasons, although a few new areas were involved. This second map, built off the first, adds purple markings that shows additional trips that were travel-related.

^{• MAP BY U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY, ENHANCEMENT BY ME •}

Also, I have never had the opportunity to travel outside the country, so my feet have always been on US soil (or in the air above it... LOL!). So, there are the extents of my travels. Not as much as some people, but I have seen some cool things in the few places I've been.

There are a few more places I'd like to see in the US — the Four Corners region, for one (around the area where Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, and Arizona converge). I'd also like to visit the Mojave Desert in Nevada, Portland (Oregon), and maybe Seattle. The Badlands region of South Dakota sounds fascinating. I'd also like to have a proper visit to Nashville, as the only times I've been there was on brief errands with only time to do what I came to do, have a meal, and then leave. I'd also love to visit Memphis some day, as I love Blues and Jazz music. Other places I'd like to visit were mentioned in my Bucket List Challenge post.

Some places in the United States (and the world at large, too) are not safe to visit, sadly, because of today's political climate, and especially by a woman traveling alone. So, careful plans will need to be made if the opportunity and money should present themselves for travel to be possible. Keeping fingers crossed! 🤞

Back in 2006, I found a site on the Internet called MapLoco which allows people to quickly and easily create maps of areas they have visited. They have maps of the USA, Canada, Europe, and the whole world. One only has to click on the name of a state, province, or country to color that area on the map.

In my case, the map is a little misleading — for instance, I have only been to Cincinnati in Ohio, which is one teeny little corner of that state, yet the whole of Ohio is colored-in. But still... it's pretty cool to do this. Here is my MapLoco:

^{• MAP BY MAPLOCO.COM •}

Why not go to MapLoco now and make your own map, then post it here and tell us something about your travels! It's fun to share!

 😊

a big hug is due to @enginewitty for designing the following personal banner for me 🤗