Because no one in my family traveled, I did not imagine myself traveling. Hawaii seemed like a dream to me. I made it to Hawaii when I was in my 20's and lived there in my 30's, but I still did not imagine the kind of extensive travel that I have managed to do.
In my late 30's my military husband was detailed to Israel. On the way we visited Athens. During that tour of duty, we visited Egypt, Turkey, and Jordan. Petra was like another world to me. That released the travel floodgate for me! Since then we have lived in Italy and seen much of Europe from that base, and Japan, from where we visited a lot of Asia. Later my son worked for UA and we used our non rev privileges to visit India, Peru, China, Argentina, and some of Eastern Europe. My son quit UA, but a friend encouraged me to look into a frequent flyer program to contiue our travels. That was right at the time of 9-11 and SAARS and the hugh promos of those days. I found Flyertalk, made 1K,and the rest is history! By the standard of the Centurion Travel Club, I have visited 84 countries and am hoping for many more. Two places I could never have imagined visiting were Ankor Wat and the Galapogos Islands, two of my all time favorites.