April's A-Ha! Travel Moments (Julie Dean) ~ by Founder Emlyn Lee

The first quarter of 2011 is finished and April is here--wow! Doesn't it seem like the Earth rotates faster these days--making weeks, months and years fly by? I watch my grade school aged nieces and nephews cram homework in between nights and weekends filled with soccer, basketball, and piano lessons. I hear my retired neighbor complain that she doesn't have enough time to tend to her garden, or visit her grandchildren in San Antonio (an hour drive from our neighborhood). I must confess that my work days can easily exceed 12-15 hours a day and even if I'm not in the office, my Blackberry keeps me work accessible at all hours of the day. I am fortunate that I usually don't feel like work is work. Cultural Embrace is my hobby. My passion. My purpose.

Of course there are hardships of owning a business particularly with the pressures of a volatile world, or traveler's mismatched views of cultural and travel expectations, etc; but I hope never to lose insight of the essence of traveling. Thus, I am dedicating April to the A-Ha! moments of why we need to stop, take a fresh perspective of the world (our own and others), embrace other cultures, and travel.

I continually ask staff, past, current, and future participants to share their A-Ha! Travel moments, and will be sharing a daily collection of what transformed their mind, body, and soul during their travels. If you wish to share your story, please send my your A-Ha! Travel moment to travel@culturalembrace.com. I hope you will take a few minutes out of your day to read these blogs, and to reflect on our purpose of being a global citizen.

My A-ha! Travel Moments normally occur in the most innocent and innocuous of times while abroad, often resulting in a bit of embarrassment for yours truly.  One of the first moments I distinctly remember was after a long flight to Brisbane, Australia.  I asked an airport taxi to take me to a hostel and while the driver loaded my bags into the trunk I decided I would be friendly and took a seat in the front so I could chat with him.  I didn’t realize my mistake until I was frowning at the steering wheel in front of me and the driver took the other seat in the front and asked:  “Well miss, where are you driving me to?”  Yes, I knew Australians drove on the opposite of the road than I was used to but I just didn’t realize how that would translate into some of the most mundane and ordinary situations being so different. The driver and I laughed, traded spots, and I knew the adventure had begun! ~ Julie Dean