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Loida Casares Ruiz

Wife, Mother, Writer, Advertising Manager

Loida Casares Ruiz grew up in Northeast Houston. She graduated from the University of Houston with a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism and Minor in English. She received a Master of Arts in Communication in 2001. She works in advertising by day and is a mother, wife, and writer by night. She has al...

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Tamed Wanderlust

Following on the Travel Theme for May

I first left North American soil at the tender age of seventeen.  My parents had actually given me permission to travel across the ocean with my, then thirty-two year old, sister and my seventeen year old friend.  My girlfriend was living in Massachusetts at the time, so she was flying alone to Frankfurt, Germany to meet us.

It was an adventure!  We visited five countries in two weeks.  We whisked through Germany, France, Spain, Italy, and Switzerland.  Many times we would visit a city by day and we would sleep on the train at night.  I had to budget my money and I had to be responsible. I was thrilled! I was exhausted!

Years later, when I was in my twenties, after I had revisited Italy and Spain and had also visited different cities, like Mexico City, Los Angeles, Chicago and Boston, I read the essay “Passports to Understanding” by Maya Angelou in her book, Wouldn’t Take Nothing for My Journey Now.   Her words struck a chord in me, because I understood exactly what she meant.

I remembered that when traveling to Europe at the age of seventeen I had a feeling of looking at the world with completely different eyes.  I felt like I knew a secret, like I knew something that people didn’t even realize they were missing out on.

The feeling that most resembled how I felt when I traveled for the first time can be compared to the feeling I had when I was first fitted for glasses.  I remember in 9^th grade going to the optometrist, because I couldn’t see the blackboard at school any more.  I used to have to move up close to see.  When they put those glasses on my eyes for the first time suddenly everything became crystal clear.  I remember asking, “Do you mean to tell me I was that blind?”

When I traveled to Europe I thought the same thing.  I had been blind to a whole new world out there that is completely different from the U.S.A. I loved the way all the countries in Europe were close together.  I loved the way the language could change by just traveling a few miles.  I loved the passion in the people.  They gave me the impression that they were really living life.

I also remember how much I loved traveling off the beaten path and venturing into neighborhoods to visit restaurants that weren’t overrun with tourists.

Once in Salamanca, Spain I cut across a neighborhood to go down to see the Roman Bridge by myself.  I stopped in a tapa bar on the way back.  Later when I told my friend’s boyfriend he told me I needed to be careful because I had walked right through a dangerous neighborhood.  I couldn’t even tell the difference between any of the 13^th century buildings.  Everything looked the same to me, so how would I even know how to identify a dangerous neighborhood.

On our honeymoon my husband and I met a man who worked in the train station, who happened to be the same religion as we are.  We saw him reading one of our publications.  We struck up a conversation with him and soon we were invited to call his wife so that we could go to their home for dinner.  We took him up on his offer and a day later we traveled to small town outside of Rome to eat dinner with them.  It was such a great experience to visit with an Italian family in their home and to eat a home made meal. We spoke a wonderful mixture of English, Spanish and the little Italian that I had learned in school.

I haven’t traveled to Europe in eight years, since the May of 2000, before I became pregnant with my first child.  My last trip was for my girlfriend’s wedding.  She’s from Houston and she now lives in Spain.

Since I had children vacations have been limited to the continental United States.  My husband and I have been to New York three times together and I’ve been one other time by myself. (I had never been!)  We’ve been to Chicago.  I’ve been to Miami a couple of times for business. We’ve traveled nearby to the Texas Wine Country, together and with our daughter when she was younger.  We took a trip to Disneyland as a family.  We even went on a Caribbean cruise as a family, but we haven’t been to Europe.

Part of me yearns to travel abroad.  I have that deep Wanderlust inside of me that I discovered at such a young age.  

I say, “Let’s go for a long weekend in Paris!”

My husband says not yet. “Let’s wait until the children are older and they can appreciate a vacation like that or when we can leave them for a long period of time.”

So I tame the Wanderlust.

I received an e-mail from an interesting travel agency based out of Italy.  They will plan your itinerary for you or for a group.  They will plan interesting excursions off the beaten path.  I read their e-mail and then their website with nostalgia.  I longed to see the hills and valleys of Tuscany. 

I also thought of a movie with Russell Crowe that I saw recently, “The Good Year.”  He goes to France, from England, to visit his late uncle’s French vineyard and a chateau that is nestled next to an adorable town.  I long to see the French countryside and a medieval castle, like Carcasonne, again.

But I don’t.  We are raising two little people right now and our family vacations will include them now.  I’ve experienced Europe alone, with girlfriends, with a sister, and with the man I love.  I have experienced more than many people and I’m grateful for that time.

Now I have entered a new phase of my life.  Our vacations should include our new family members.  We should tie educational experiences into our time together and we should build memories.  We’ve been planning some interesting road trips, like visits to many of our state capitals.  We’ve talked about taking another cruise, but not during hurricane season this time.

Because that’s what happens when you grow up and have children.  Your priorities change and you put away your passports for a little while.  Not all the time, and not for all people, and that’s fine if that works for them.  But in my case, my vacation time is precious and I want to share it with the people I love the most in my life, my husband and my children.

So no, I won’t be traveling across Europe on the Eurail anytime soon, but I will be traveling across the United States on a family road trip.  Who knows, maybe my husband and I can escape for that long weekend in Paris one day, just me and him.