From PDX to CVG

For longer than I can remember I've had dreams of travelling. When I was a child and rotating through my array of various "dream jobs," travel was the one constant. Whether I became the next Jane Goodall, Gordon Ramsay, Vera Wang or Christiane Amanpour, I was going to see the world.

To this day, I still haven't left the continental United States. To some that's shocking. To me, that's just become life.

I've never been what you'd consider wealthy, and now as someone who sinks $1,200 of her $1,700 income into rent, I'm even further from it. And further from ever affording to just jet off to Greece or cruise the Caribbean.

A few years ago I was planning my first international trip. I was going to go visit the sister city of Boring, Oregon, one of the great communities I'm a reporter for here, named Dull, Scotland. Thrilling prospect, right? Though it's name would suggest otherwise, Dull is a beautiful country village and would've still gotten me out of my USA bubble.

Eventually, partially due to the fact that my rent got a raise and I didn't, I stopped planning to go to Dull. Even on a smaller scale, further into the future, that adventure didn't seem possible anymore.

At first I was extremely disappointed by that realization. But after a while I bounced back.

I will travel one day, but just (apparently) not now.

And I also realized there is a somewhat cheaper destination I feel I need to visit more often now.

Ohio.

I know. Almost as gripping an idea as travelling to a place called Dull.

But here's why.

If you've been paying attention, you'll remember I visited Ohio back in April to do some wedding photos for a childhood friend. Besides that friend, much of my dad's side of the family is back there, including my siblings, who I hadn't seen in more than a decade.

That also means until this spring I hadn't even met my sister's two daughters, my nieces, who are 8 and 11.

I'm not just a bad aunt — don't have a great track record, but, hey, I was a kid too for a good portion of their lives — but I'll also admit I wasn't a great aunt before this year either.

But those girls — pouts that turn into inadvertent naps then back into pouts included — totally snuck right into my heart this spring.

It's easy to virtually tour Europe with Rick Steves from your couch and know what you're missing in terms of experiencing other cultures, but I couldn't have possibly known how much I was missing in my life by way of just being Marissa and Lilly's aunt without meeting them.

While I'd still love to see the Greek islands one day, right now I'd be just as happy visiting King's Island with my sister and nieces.

Though lounging on a beach on the French Riviera retains its appeal, I'd still delight in $30 pedicures with the girls in Hamilton.

The way I see it, I've only got about 10 more years of my nieces still being kids, and I already feel like I've missed out on so much.

So my new financial goal is this: budget for at least one trip to Ohio every year.

No passport can gain you access to time lost with family.

So Greece can wait.

xo B

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