Traveling The World To Expand Your Horizons?

Christmas Chandle

It took me a few moments to decide just where to post this missive, as it´s got as much to do with traveling as it does with personal happiness...at least, for me. But I figured that since the primary objective here is to encourage folks to ´get out there´, and doing as much typically provides people with a sense of well-being, this category won out. You see, I´m a firm believer that EVERYONE should be able to travel if they wish, not just the 2%ers who have loads of money. That´s why there are such things as time shares. It´s there to provide ´everyday Joe´s´ with a means to vacation in nicer accommodations without spending a fortune. But, I´m not here to promote time shares!

I come from what is most commonly called a ´lower middle class´ family. My father was a carpenter, my mother a stay-at-home mom. Not because she didn´t want to work. My dad wouldn´t allow it. Call it Italian machisimo. But the man wanted his wife home, and so she stayed home. As a result, our ´extra money´ was pretty much non-existent. Yes, we always had a few new outfits for the new school year, we got gifts at Christmas and we always had food on the table. But these folks were living hand-to-mouth....and that´s how it was when they both passed on. A very sad story...but one that taught me great lessons.

I remember every summer, when my cousins would come back from their family vacations and they´d go on and on about all the cool things they saw. They went to Florida or Europe or the Islands, and always came back with tons of stories. I only asked my mother once why we didn´t ever go on vacation. And I still remember the look in her eyes when she said, ´maybe next year´. My mother´s ´next year´ never arrived. She spent her whole life waiting to ´go´ and never did. And when she passed, 6 months before my dad, I remember just how broken he was. He never got to give her those things, and it flat tore him up. I made a vow that this would NOT happen to me.

By the time my parents passed, I´d already seen nearly every state in the country (except Hawaii and Alaska). I was 27 years old. But I´d never been out of the US and I wanted so much to go to her beloved Italy, to visit her little village and meet the relatives I´d only heard about. It took me another decade to do it, but I finally did. And I can tell you, it changed my life. It was like going home for the very first time. Those people met me with open arms and so much love, it was hard to believe that I´d never met them before. They talked about my mother and my grandfather and showed me tons of pictures and letters, joyfully sharing their memories with me. It was more like an Odessey than a mere vacation. I learned so much about my family tree and why we are the way we are. It was fascinating!

I talked to my mother´s spirit the entire time. It broke my heart that she´d never gotten to make the trip and see what I saw. And I promised myself, again, that I would see as much of the world as I could before I leave this planet. For her. And for me. Then, something really amazing happened.

I met a woman who told me about a travel business she´d gotten involved with that allowed her to book her own travel AND get paid a commission to do it! Not only that, but anytime anyone else booked through her site, she received her commissions along with extra other bonuses. I blew her off. I wasn´t ready for any sort of ´schemes´ and thought it was just another one of those things where some folks got rich and the rest got left in the dust. Five years passed, and it came up again. By this time, I´d already been involved with some other network marketing and saw that it was legitimate. This time, I didn´t blow it off.

Now, here I am. I have this business that allows me to travel and get most of my money back. I have the first-hand news on all the great deals that come out from all the major cruise lines, packages, etc. And I have a means to not only travel, but show other people how to do it too. I can´t even believe that I didn´t do this sooner. But, that´s just how it goes sometimes. We´ve all heard (and maybe even experienced) ´missed opportunities´. Well, this time, I wasn´t about to miss out again. I´m so glad I paid attention. My whole world is different just because I was willing to listen and take advantage. Funny how even later in life so many good things show up. It´s such a surprise!

Camille Olivia Strate is an author, empowerment coach and critter keeper in search of the perfect pasture. Her passion to help people get ´comfortable in their skin´ is second only to her desire to remind them that joy really IS a choice. Her latest book, "Whispers" is now available in eBook format. To find out more about her coaching and her latest book, visit her website at http://www.joyzachoice.com
For business information, http://www.joyztravel.info