License To Travel
Posted Sat, Nov 29th 2008, 09:37|
License To Travel by Walter Guptill
October 1, 2008
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It was September of 1971 when I got my first driver’s license. It didn’t have a picture on it, but had all the personal data that identified me as being me; date of birth, height, weight, hair and eye color. And while it said “Maine Drivers License” it was really much more than that, as with it I could drive not only the highways in Maine, but also those in New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut or anywhere else a map might take me. Yes, a highway map, before MapQuest® we used highway maps and harrdly anyone knew what the letters GPS meant? That little piece of paper, my Maine Drivers License, I had tucked in my wallet, would open up a big new world for me to explore. It was more than a driver’s license, it was my “License to Travel” and with that came the freedom to see new and exciting destinations, limited only by my imagination and ability to buy gas at $1.32 per gallon!
My first solo road trip out of Maine would take me to New York City. I didn’t intend to go to New York City; I was thinking something more like Norwalk, Connecticut. Why Norwalk, Connecticut you ask? Because I was invited, sort of! I met a family from Norwalk, home to the World’s Largest Dairy Store, by the way, vacationing on Damariscotta Lake during the summer of 1972. My family happened to have a seasonal campsite there and we met and enjoyed all that summers in Maine offer. Two weeks later the Norwalk family packed the car and loaded up the Norwalk kids to head home. With hugs and promises to “stay in touch and return next year” the Norwalk Dad gave a final nod and wave and said “if you ever want to visit, your always welcome to stay with us.”
As summer passed I often thought about the invitation to “come stay with us” and I didn’t realize that invitations like that were something that polite people might say, but seldom expected that someone would actually take them up on! Imagine their surprise when the kid from Maine called, “Walter… Walter who… from Maine! Oh, yes…yes… when? This weekend…why…uh…sure!”
I made it to Norwalk on a Friday near midnight and was greeted with genuine warmth from the Norwalk family. I had a quick snack and was made comfortable on the fold out sofa bed in the family room. Early the next morning Norwalk Mom and Dad served me a good breakfast and suggested that I take the train from Bridgeport, Connecticut to New York City for the day. I would be on my own however, as the Norwalk family would be at an all day swim meet. It seemed like a grand adventure, but by the time I was dropped off at the Bridgeport train station, I was more than a bit apprehensive. My sense of adventure soon won out over fear and I set out to “conquer” New York City! I got off the train in Penn Station and walked outside into the bright sunlight of Midtown Manhattan. It seemed as if I immediately encountered at least half of the 600,000 people that pass through Penn Station on a daily basis. I walked from one end of the block to other and never crossed the street. Back inside Penn Station a short time later I found a bench and there I sat for the next six hours waiting for the train to take me back to Bridgeport. My trip of a lifetime would last less than 48 hours! I would drive roundtrip from Owls Head, Maine to Norwalk, Connecticut to take a train from Bridgeport to New York so that I could sit on a bench in a train station for 6 hours. Guess what, it was the best trip I had ever taken!
While my trip to Norwalk, Connecticut might seem to be a total travel disaster, for me it ranks right up there with my all time favorite trips. I have more recently realized, that travel, like sailing, is as much about the journey as it is about the destination.
Though I have barely made a dent in my personal list of the 1,000 places I want to see before I die, my friends think I’m a great traveler. As much as I enjoy traveling for my own enjoyment and education; as a profession travel consultant, I get as much pleasure from helping others discover our world.
Since 9/11 you cannot travel to nearly as many place as you once could with just a driver’s license and birth certificate, but I still keep my License to Travel tucked in my wallet. Little about my most recent License to Travel is like the original; it is now plastic, has my picture on it and only my date of birth is the same as it was in 1971. My height, weight, eye and hair color…well what’s left of it, has changed, but then again so have I. I made the trip of a lifetime to Norwalk, Connecticut and my life has been forever enriched! What trip will you make that will do the same for you?
Categories: Travel Columns by Walter
