Introduction to Travel

By Bonnie Mack, 9-time traveler from Clearwater, FL

Two recent occurrences got me to thinking about my travels, and the little seed that had been planted, culminating in my becoming a world traveler for 55 years (so far). I can recall it most clearly … I was about nine or ten years old, and visiting my father's cousin, who had just returned from Europe. She was showing us some of her fine purchases from abroad—most of which were of no interest to me. Then I spotted a nativity set among the other souvenirs. It was the finest nativity set I'd ever set eyes on. The figures were big—doll size—and they were dressed in actual fabric clothing! As a girl who loved her dolls, I thought that perhaps one day I would visit this place called "Europe," and return with my own nativity "dolls."

I continued to ruminate about traveling, and how that nativity set gave me the idea that there might be a world outside America that I would one day explore. It's funny how sometimes the things that are insignificant to us, make a huge impression on others.

Bonnie's niece was impressed with a small fossil from Morocco—she would really be impressed by millions of fossils embedded in rocks and stones in the Saharan reserves.

One of my young nieces visited last year, and I was showing her around my apartment. It's filled with treasures from around the world, and yet the thing that caught her attention was a small fossil that I brought home from Morocco. Surely, I thought she'd be impressed with the zebra hide from Kenya, the carved ostrich eggs from Zimbabwe, or the wooden bowl with inlaid porcupine quills from Ethiopia. She wasn't curious about the carved wooden chair from Zambia, or the African mask from Swaziland (now Eswatini). No, it was the little fossil, because her class had been studying fossils in school.

I blindfolded her and led her to my darkened bedroom. Before I removed the blindfold, I turned on the soft lights behind the carved wooden screen from India which was at the head of my bed. I lit the brass lantern that was covered in colorful "jewels," and then I removed the blindfold. Her eyes adjusted to the dim lighting, and she was filled with excitement. "This is like being in another place!" she said with glee. I turned on the gilded peacock lamp on the chest beside my bed, and my Indian bedroom was fully revealed. "That's the idea," I told her. "Whenever I'm in this room, I'm reminded of one of my favorite places."

Bonnie's book is a humorous compilation of her adventures and experiences around the world.

A short time ago, I was contacted by an acquaintance I knew when we were very young. Decades had passed, and I was totally surprised that Jackie was able to locate me. I was even more surprised when she told me why she was wanted to get in touch. It seems that when her grandson comes to visit, they often read books together. She was bringing a stack of books downstairs, and a book I'd written in 2006 was in the pile. When she saw the book—Overexposed … (and Slightly Out of Focus): One Woman's Adventures, Misadventures, and an Occasional Misdemeanor—she commented that she knew the author. Her grandson was surprised, and excited to learn this. After he urged her to call me several times, she finally tracked me down.

She read the book years ago but was reading it again with her grandson. I wondered what stories caught his interest. Was it the one about my lost luggage in Egypt, and using two yards of material to create a bathing suit? (Well, I really can't call that a "bathing suit," because all I could do was dip in the cold pool water to cool off, lest the "suit" fall apart.) Maybe it was the story about dancing with the gauchos at a barbecue in Argentina … or driving through a small town in Tunisia with a friend, when a little boy rode his bike into our car, and we ended up at the police station. Perhaps the story about staying in an underground "cave" in Matmata, Tunisia impressed him, because the location served as Luke Skywalker's home in Star Wars.

After a 5-hour journey from Kuching, the Iban "guest house" left a lot to desire.

Then there was my adventure while traveling through Borneo's jungle in 1993. It was a 4-hour drive from the capital of Kuching, followed by an hour on the Skrang River through the jungle. Exhausted, I finally arrived at the home of the Iban head-hunters, where I spent the night in their "guest house." Moving on to Myanmar afterwards, my accommodations had a chicken coop on the roof, and a padlock on the door. It was difficult to determine which was worse—the Iban "guest house," or the room with the chicken coop overhead.

Bonnie's guide in Borneo was quick to point out heads of the Iban tribe's enemies.

I'd like to hope that my niece's excitement at holding a fossil from Morocco, and getting a taste of India might one day encourage her to explore the world; and that the stories in my book will do the same for Jackie's grandson. During our conversation, Jackie asked if I had written another book. I told her I hadn't, but that I had approximately 40 stories published in O.A.T.'s online newsletter, The Inside Scoop. At her request, I began sending the stories, one by one, over the weekend. I was delighted, when she sent me an email, after reading them. She said, "I felt like you were in my living room talking to me about your many adventures. I especially loved reading about all the amazing people you met. I can see why it was the highlight of your travels." She went on to say that, whenever I wrote about a place she and her grandson didn't know, they brought out the atlas to determine its location.

I always forward the "Scoop Stories" to friends, and a woman I met on my return trip to Vietnam and Cambodia in 2017 always sends me a note. It never fails … all my stories, whether they be humorous or serious, make Mary Ann cry. She never forgets to tell me that they bring back so many memories of her travels around the world. Perhaps the stories aren't the same, but they make her reflect on her own experiences.

The Chicago Tribune reviewed my book in their Travel section in June 2007. Among other things, they said, "Her goal is not to write a literary travel narrative or illuminate some more universal theme, but simply to entertain readers and open their eyes to a wider world. Experienced travelers will be all too familiar with the situations she recounts, but those who dream of traveling for the first time to the more distant edges of the globe may be roused to follow in the author's footsteps."

I'm encouraged to hope that I've planted some seeds through my stories and travels, and that others will want to follow in my footsteps.

Embrace your inner child (and maybe even inspire your own grandchildren) by visiting the film location for Star Wars during our Tunisia: From the Mediterranean to the Sahara adventure.