Why do we love travel - The (personal) Nostalgia edition

Dear Private Safaris Friends,

I don't know about you, but with all the dusty suitcases and lonely passports in our cupboards, a feeling of nostalgia keeps on overcoming me.  I wish back the days of travelling freely and keep on being reminded of WHY travel has always been such an integral part of my life and why it defines who I am at the core.

To paint you a picture... I grew up in a typical German middle-class family that travelled at least once a year to a sunny destination. My first memories of travelling include 18-hour road trips, stops at small supermarkets and bakeries where our French or Spanish was getting us whatever we pointed at, running towards the oceans with my brothers, trying all sorts of food I could barely pronounce, learning to say please and thank you in a variety of languages and playing with kids I could not understand. I loved every minute of it and we always cried when we had to leave our new best friend behind. Most importantly though I learned to live by a motto my father tried to instil in us. Translated from German it goes a little something like this: Traveling is the best way to understand and appreciate others, therefore travel the world and you make the world a friendlier and happier place....

I have been lucky enough to have travelled around the globe and have to say he was absolutely right... The more I travelled the more I learned about other cultures and the more I learned to 'Love it like a local'. And In 2006 I found my special place to be South Africa. For me still one of the most hospitable, beautiful and diverse countries in the world and a place I proudly call my forever home.

What about you? What made you fall in love with travel? And how are you sharing your love for travel?

Anyway, I would love to hear from you.

Here is a pic of how I am passing on that 'Wanderlust' and love for travel to my son. He was 2 years old when he enjoyed his first game drive at a very kid-friendly lodge in the Eastern Cape.

Throwback pic to my first plane trip! I was about 6-9 years old and was allowed to enter the cockpit! I am sure I grew a few centimetres taller in that moment.