08/03/2026
Where My Travel Journey Began — 1981, Europe, 7 Countries, 3 Weeks ✈️
It started in 1981.
I was young, naive, a little scared, and had absolutely no idea what I was about to experience.
For three weeks, I traveled through seven European countries with my four siblings and my parents. We had film cameras, guidebooks, Eurail passes—and no reservations.
My dad was a brave man. 😆
I didn’t know it then, but that trip planted something in me that never went away: the need to see, to notice, and eventually, to document.
Switzerland 🇨🇭 was the country that really got me. We visited Bern and Basel, and I remember being stunned by how beautiful it was. I had never seen anything like it. It was probably the first time I understood just how big and interesting the world really was.
The Swiss folk dress in the first photo came home with me—and somehow I still have it more than 40 years later. Apparently, I knew a good souvenir when I saw one. 👗
Vatican City 🇻🇦 also made a huge impression on me. I remember seeing Michelangelo’s Pietà behind protective glass. It had been attacked and badly damaged less than a decade earlier.
Even at that age, I could not understand how someone had carved that much detail and emotion out of marble—especially the expression on Mary’s face as she held her son. I didn’t fully understand what I was looking at, but I knew it was extraordinary.
England 🏴 was another favorite. At the Tower of London, we saw the Crown Jewels and the torture devices, because apparently that was considered a perfectly normal family sightseeing day in 1981.
Back then, we took photos on film and had no idea what we had captured until the pictures were developed. And when you wanted the beautiful, perfectly composed views of a city, you bought slides.
I’m still digging through everything, but these are a few pieces of the trip that started it all.
I had no idea that three weeks in Europe would stay with me for the rest of my life. But it did.
More than 40 years later, I’m still traveling, still noticing everything, and still taking pictures. 🌍📷
Photo notes
1st photo: The Swiss folk dress I bought on that trip—and somehow still have more than 40 years later.
2nd photo: Feeding the birds outside St. Paul’s Cathedral in London.
3rd photo: Posing in front of Vincent van Gogh’s The Bedroom in Amsterdam.
4th photo: Eating gelato at an Italian café. Clearly, I understood the assignment.
5th photo: Another café somewhere in Europe. Exact location lost to history.
6th photo: In Switzerland with my family.
Remaining photos: Some of the slides we collected along the way.
