I come by my urge to travel honestly. My mother was raised in Germany, and my father spent 20 years in the U.S.Army living all over the globe, before retiring after 20 years, going to college, and then having another career with the State Department in Africa. I went to 13 schools in the U.S., Europe and Asia before finishing high school. (And a few colleges later as well, but that's another story).
Friends came and went. Languages came easily and left without a trace. No regrets, though. New friends were always waiting, and the next move was always presented to us kids as another great adventure.
Who else can say they had the best lobster Thermidor ever at a restaurant called "The Atlantic Rasputin" on the beach in Monrovia, Liberia? Or the best Chinese food at the "China Bar" in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia?
As an adult, I have lived in a number of states, and though my current steady job mandates that I live where I do now, that doesn't keep me from getting out of Dodge whenever possible.
Likewise, I enjoy a good car trip now and then. The kind where getting there is half the fun. A few years ago, I took two weeks and drove from Florida to Ohio, to 3 destinations in Michigan, to Maine and back to Florida. Three sets of relatives and two very old friends. It was great. Good music, books on tape. Great memories and chances to catch up in person. Cathartic. Something I should start planning again. Of course everyone has moved, so I'll have to find another route.
My sister's family is in Maine, which I love to visit in the winter to get my fix of snow without 
actually having to live in it or drive in it. They will be moving to Lynchburg, Virginia in a few months. My brother and his wife live in Arlington, Virginia. I suppose there is snow there, too.
A few days ago, Shawn blogged on the new Triumph motorcycle. I had a 650cc Triumph in the 1970's, and when I read her article felt a primitive stirring to head off into the sunset. I have resisted thus far, because at some undefined moment between then and now, I transitioned into a responsible adult. Mostly.
Around 1980, the same wanderlust drove my then-boyfriend to take a truck driving course. He could 
drive anything, but needed the course for his license to wrestle those big 18- wheelers down the road. I took the course after him, and backing those bad boys through orange cones using mirrors, or shifting through 13 gears going down the highway was pretty exciting. We were going to buy our own rig, but at some point realized that being together in the cab of a truck 24-7 would not be conducive to survival on either of our parts. That's it in a nutshell. Actually, I went to nursing school, and he drove with another partner for some time.
But travelling is in my blood. Be it going in person, or wandering with Paul Theroux, or going to Botswana with Alexander Mc Call Smith in The No.1 Ladies' Detective Agency, I will always be a nomad--real or virtual.
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