Why am I traveling? That is my question of the day. Why am I traveling to the South Pacific? I could have gone to the Caribbean for much cheaper if I wanted sun and fun or even Ibiza or the Canary Islands. But the South Pacific is very far away from Northwestern France and that in its own right is attractive. I want to go away as far as possible.

You see my mother died recently and it is very hard to get over. She was a great mother and a great traveler. In fact, she was the traveler of the family. I was lucky enough to go with her on some of her wanderings. We’ve been to Europe together, Mexico, Panama, Venezuela, Kenya, Egypt, Israel, Hawaii, Caribbean, across the US. She wandered even further without me. Three times to China, to India, Indonesia and Russia. All this she did in 30 years. She worked hard and wandered hard, forever curious. Or maybe she felt like me, she just wanted to get away.

But it is so abstract. Get away, going to...

As army brats, we traveled until I was about 6 years old. Then we stopped until I was 11. My father died in the Winter and that Summer we, my two brothers and I, left North Philadelphia with my mom where we headed to Hawaii. North Philadelphia in the ‘70’s was a little Vietnam. Shootings, drugs, corruption and riots, it was not easy to relax though we tried.

But back to Hawaii...we met Fijians there. I didn’t even know at the time that there was a place called Fiji. And they looked like they could have come straight out of North Philadelphia. They looked like us but they were from what I imagined to be a beautiful island not so far from the beautiful island we were on. They were great, taught my oldest brother to surf and called him brother. He was pleased, I was pleased and I knew I wanted to know more about them. They made me feel good, the best I had felt in years and I didn’t want to return back to North Philadelphia. But our 7 days were up and back we went.

So my mother died and I’m traveling far away, seeking the comfort of peoples who do not even know the comfort they can give and hopefully there is more out there; comfort in the presence of strangers.

It is not only about me taking from them, I hope that I can give something in return. A conversation, a smile, something. This is why I travel. An exchange of something between humans.

I am an American living in France. I am married with two dogs and two cats. My husband and I will be cruising for three months in the fall/winter from the South Pacific to Freeport, Bahamas.