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Alina Okun's avatar

Incredible experiences!! Thank you so much for sharing. You should write a book :)

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Kathy Fitzpatrick's avatar

Thanks for writing and sharing about your journeys as a family. Wow! Your parents had their priorities straight, that’s for sure. Looking forward to hearing more!

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Michael Wallace's avatar

Thank you, Kathy, for your support! It was a great journey, and my journey continues. I hope all is well with you and your family.

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Rosemary's avatar

Wow! What a story! So great you had the opportunity to learn about other cultures and meet so many different people. (I was born in Southampton, by the way.)

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Michael Wallace's avatar

Thank you for your support, Dotty, and for sharing your story. There are a lot of parallels between our stories. It sounds like you've had a lot of great experiences and adventures. I hope you continue to enjoy your travels and family. Nothing better!

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Michael Wallace's avatar

Thank you, Rosemary! I had to learn to reach out to all different types of people from different cultures at young age, if I wanted to communicate with people outside of my immediate family. That was a great education as well. Thanks for reading.

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Michael Wallace's avatar

Thank you, Alina, it was quite a ride. I would like to write a book about it someday.

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Michael Wallace's avatar

Thank you, Kathy, for your support! It was a great journey.

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Dotty Hopkins's avatar

Our daughter sent this to us because it parallels our life so well and she wanted to thank us for making so many experiences available. We also started on Long Island in 1970, (sold 2 houses, the car and a small plane) due to my husband being furloughed by American Airlines, and thanks to his flying we were able to get round the world passes on TWA for $99 each. We can't imagine what it must have cost your parents for all those flights. We spent 8 months in Europe 71/72 when our girls were 6 and 8. They were sort of homeschooled too. We never used the rest of the round the world part of the passes as we loved Europe so much. It was my second extended time there as my parents had taken me in 1953 when I was 10 (also sold a house to raise the funds) and I wanted our girls to have the same broadened outlook I'd gotten. After 8 months we returned, but only to Puerto Rico for my husband's new flying job for the next 7 months. Being blonds made them stand out in the mostly black population of San Juan and I loved that they got to experience so many different cultures and languages over the almost year and a half of travel. Once the flying career settled down, we enjoyed so many more wonderful trips, Japan, yearly Alpine ski trips, individual girls trips etc. It created the wunderlust in them I was hoping for. One daughter was an exchange student in the Netherlands in high school and has continued to travel with her daughter. The other now lives in Portugal like we do. Thank you for such a great read and the trip down memory lane.

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