Long before I made my living writing and shooting photos for newspapers, before I was a wife and mother, before college and before I had any inkling of what it was that I wanted to do with my life, I was a traveler.
I left my home home state of Michigan the day after I graduated from high school. The next day. There were no parties or grand send-offs, I just hopped on a Greyhound bus and sort of disappeared for a while.
It was the best thing I ever did.
Because of where my birthday falls, I was always the youngest person in my class. When I graduated, I had just turned 17 and was off to see the world.
I have a knack, we joke that it’s a family trait, of landing on my feet no matter the circumstances. I knew I eventually wanted to go to college, but not right away.
I made my way to New Orleans, lied about my age, and landed a job bartending on a cruise ship.
For the next two years I made Martinis and Manhattans, Sazeracs and Side Cars, Brandy Alexanders and Bloody Marys for the passengers of the American Queen. It was one of the best jobs I ever had.
The American Queen (AQ as we called her) is a paddle-wheel river boat — the biggest in the world. It held 450 passengers and 250 crew for her week-long cruises up and down the Mississippi River. During the warmer months, we would head up North with stops as far as St. Louis, Cincinnati and Pittsburgh.
Throughout my time on board I toured Oak Alley plantation in Vashire, La., was part of The Great Steamboat Race in Cincinnati, Ohio, explored Beale Street and Graceland in Memphis and even got to go to the Kentucky Derby — experiences I doubt I would have had the opportunity to do otherwise.
Because the crew actually lived on the boat, I had no expenses. We worked six weeks on and then had two weeks off. At the time when I worked there, the AQ was part of American Classic Voyages, which was owned by Delta. One of the best perks was that at the end of your six weeks, you were issued a plane ticket from wherever the boat happened to be to wherever in the world you wanted to go. Round trip. Free of charge.
Needless to say, for a kid with some serious wanderlust, the job was perfect.
There were good times and bad: throughout my travels I have been kissed in the rain in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower and I have been mugged in Ireland. I have been completely lost in London and I have been hospitalized in Panama after eating some seriously questionable food from a roadside vendor. I have had the privilege to meet some truly fascinating and genuinely wonderful people from all over the globe.
I left the AQ in the Summer of 2002, settled in New Orleans to go to college and put my new bartending skills to use slinging drinks on Bourbon Street to cover my tuition. Even after I graduated I continued bartending for over a decade as I discovered it was the one job where you could move pretty much anywhere in the country and still find (almost immediate) work.
Between shifts I would work as a stringer for local newspapers and sold freelance photographs to various publishing companies and media outlets around the country before finally moving down to South Carolina to pursue writing full time.
My youngest brother recently approached me about what I thought about him and his wife buying an RV and traveling around the country for a while.
Much to my mother’s chagrin, I was all for it. After all, they’re young. There’s no kids, no mortgage and no serious family obligations like a sick or aging parent to hold them back. If they want to explore the country, back-pack through Europe or walk the Great Wall of China, now’s the time.
I see more and more young people in such a hurry to get married, have a family and join the workforce nowadays. While that may be suitable for some, I can’t help but think that many of them will regret their decision to “grow up” so fast. I’m sure I would be a very different person today had I not taken the time to go exploring this awesome planet we all live on for a while.
You were not born to simply go to work and pay bills — you have to live life. After all, there’s a whole world out there to explore …
Take advantage of it.
