“Travel changes you. As you move through this life and this world you change things slightly, you leave marks behind, however small. And in return, life — and travel — leaves marks on you. Most of the time, those marks — on your body or on your heart — are beautiful. Often though, they hurt.” ~ Anthony Bourdain

Yesterday, I came across a folder of yellowed and smudged newspaper clippings from the Philadelphia Inquirer dated 1989 – 1993 as Marie and I have recently begun purging our belongings to begin the process of downsizing from our current home.

In the spring of 1988, Marie and I had purchased our first home in Magnolia, New Jersey.  We suddenly had a mortgage and no money.  Each Sunday, after reading the Sports section, I would anxiously peruse the Travel section, taking special care to carefully cut and date articles that described with such vivid detail the allure of magical places within the continental US as well as exotic locations abroad.  In this folder, I placed these clippings, dreaming of someday visiting these places with Marie.

In 1992, we were blessed with a daughter.  My travel obsession ceased as my newspaper clippings found their way to the back of a bedroom closet as I suddenly had a more important priorities in my life.

In the interim, a quarter century quickly passed before my unbelieving eyes.

Uncovering them in storage, I smiled as I noted that me and my family were able to cross off; Sedona, California, Grand Cayman, Hawaii, the Grand Canyon and St. Thomas off the list, while Paris, Montana, Australia, London, Wyoming and China still remain outstanding.

Reading the tributes that have been pouring in concerning the sad and sudden death of Anthony Bourdain, I’ve been reflecting on the trips we’ve taken.

While the material items we brought back from our trips no longer fit, were eventually lost, broken or misplaced, it was the experiences that have stayed with us forever. 

My family and I still talk about swimming with the stingrays in the Caymans, meeting our friendly tour guide Lucien in Bonaire, watching the sunrise over the Grand Canyon and the hospitality of the locals when our Jeep broke down at the Tidal Pools in Aruba.

So, thank you Mr. Bourdain, for showing this fellow native New Jersey Boy the value, meaning and importance of traveling outside my immediate zip code as well as traveling outside myself while exploring this great big beautiful and different world.

I learned you return home a changed and grateful human being.  And that is certainly more important than any t-shirt or travel knick-knack.

“Let’s go explore the world with an open mind, loving heart, empty camera, blank journal and curious imagination” ~ Scott Kern