Travels with Mom
For Mother’s Day this year, the Boston Globe asked a handful of their travel writers to reminisce about traveling with their moms for a story that will appear in Sunday’s paper. This is the first memory that popped into my head. Happy Mother’s Day!
Growing up, I was often embarrassed by the decibel level of my mother’s voice. Her thick Bronx accent and layered laugh would echo off the walls of the high school auditorium much to the chagrin of my suave adolescent persona. No doubt flirting with some girl, I would hear her scream across the room, “Steeeeepheennn, come meet Mr. So-and-So. He likes to write too!”
Needless to say, I wasn’t relishing the thought of spending an extended period of time with my mother in Paris in1985. She was on her first trip abroad with my dad while I was backpacking through Europe with my college sweetheart, now my wife of 18 years. We met at a restaurant where my mom already had her Berlitz book open. She was practicing her French on the waiter who was laughing his head off, having never heard that unique blend of the Grand Concourse meets the Champs-Elysées speak. My mom ordered lamb and the waiter came back with three slices of bologna, having misunderstood her.
It should come as no surprise that the people who coined the phrase joie de vivre adored her exuberant personality and treated my mom like the next coming of Josephine Baker. At a jazz joint, noticing the Swing dancing skills that once garnered my mom awards in her youth, a Frenchman asked her for an opportunity. My father urged her on and my mom and that guy cut a rug into tatters they were moving so fast. All I saw was a blur of white teeth plastered on my mom’s face, framed by ruby red lipstick.
Happy Mother’s Day, Mom. I miss that laugh!
By now, you may have witnessed (and hopefully experienced) the beauty of being in a TSA PreCheck lane at airport security. In blissful pre-9/11 fashion, passengers in the PreCheck line don’t remove shoes, belts, or jackets, and have the luxury of keeping their liquids and laptops inside their bags. The standard metal detector is used instead of the invasive full-body scanner. On average, security agents can process twice as many passengers in PreCheck line than the normal lines.
I love the location of the 
Myanmar (Burma) will have a landmark year in 2015, when it holds its first national elections since 1990. Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy is favored to win a sweeping majority of seats, but foreign diplomats are already worried that the military will rear its ugly head once again, rigging the election in favor of its de facto party, the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP). The reforms of late 2012, early 2013 brought much needed democratic changes, optimism, and a surge of international travelers, many of whom were waiting for the release of Suu Kyi, the Burmese activist and Nobel Peace Prize winner. These last two years have also brought a surge of capital primarily from China to build up the cities. Chinese investments have already changed the look of Vientiane, the historic capital of Laos on the Mekong River. Now the cranes and condos could very well change the look of Yangon (formerly Rangoon), Myanmar’s major city. If you want to visit the golden pagodas, colonial-era buildings, traditional shops, and 40s-era mansions, go now before the city is dotted with sleek new skyscrapers. Then take a river cruise to Mandalay, stopping at small villages along the way to get a real taste of Southeast Asia. 
Depending on your passion, be it art, adventure, dining on fresh seafood, or simply catching rays on your own spit of sand, I guarantee there’s a locale on the New England Coast that caters to your interest. Not surprisingly, the islands of Martha’s Vineyard, Nantucket, and Block Island figure prominently in this round-up of
Steve, Your mom was the best! As long as I live I can close my eyes and hear that laugh as if she were right here next to me. This was a very nice piece and I am sure she is smiling down upon you today. Happy Mother’s Day to both of our Mom’s. They both live on in our hearts and memories.
Love always,
Rudy
Thanks Rudy. It must have been a hard Mother’s Day for you. I miss you and I’ll try to get out to San Diego soon!