There are two kinds of travel, that which feeds the soul and that which is academic or work related and so, does not contribute to substantially to our development.

Desmond says he loves travel because he can see people, similar to him, acting in different circumstances.

He recalls reading a book by Nevil Shute which included the suggestion that democracy could be furthered by requiring education and travel as prerequisite for voting. Desmond says he thinks people who have traveled, generally, have a more empathetic view of humankind.

David says he is not much of a traveler. He's never been on the European continent. He went to China once, to act in a propanda film made by the Red Army. "We were well looked after, with an interpreter everywhere we went " He wrote an article about his experence for The Vancouver Sun. After that, he thought writing travel articles could be interesting,, but, "went back into my head, where most if my travel takes place. It's quite expansive."

Desmond recently returned from a fiftysix year reunion of his class in Elementary school. After returning from that trip, he went to Gasbay to a friend's summer home. These travels were, for him, preparation for a grand journey back to his birth city, Dublin. The last time he went there, it was not a good time in his life and not a good travel experience. He's looking forward to this trip, he thinks it should be good.

p0ps Harlow's San Francisco Set on Flickr

Steve says he was born in L.A. and always wanted to be somewhere else. He went to San Francisco in 1957 at age of 13, really liked it there and wanted to move there as soon as he could.

Bien Hoa Street

When he got out of highschool, he thought he had to go into some military service, joined the Navy Reserve, he spent his age 18 thru 20 on a small ship going to Hawaii, Japan, Hong Kong, Phillipines, Thailand, and Vietnam. Also the ship spent time in Portland, Oregon and British Columbia. He says he did not enjoy being a military person and thought that briefly visiting exotic locales was not what he wanted, he vowed to any travel he would do on his own would be by moving to a location for a year minimum. Since then, he's lived in rural Central and Northern California, Hawaii, San Francisco, Dallas, Texas, New York City, and he's briefly visited Denmark.

Ruth says she spent most of her life traveling within a 100 mile radius in Northern California, then lived in NYC from 1997 to 2010, during her time there, she had the opportunity to travel for her mental health job a few times in Scandinavian countries. NYC was big and crowded and fast, but, for her, seemed to be, "a terriffic fit." Traveling in Scandinavia she loved, "because she found more like-minded people there. It was brilliant, my whole perspective changed."

Four Women Moving Earth In Wheelbarrows

She continued saying a recent month of traveling in Northern California resulted in no art creation.

Desmond says he found unlimited energy in NYC, when he was there in 1969 - 70. It flowed thru him, he remembers once not sleeping for two and a half days.

Ruth says she agrees with Steve that there is a much more inspiring atmosphere there than where they are now in Southern California.

Emory says travel has effected him profoundly, altho he doesn't think about travel too much, it seems to be a part of life. When he was a kid, his family would travel from there home in Tennesee to his Great Grandfather's house in Alabama. It seemed to him like they were traveling from sunny, care-free hills to dark, foreboding, blood-red land where the people were more wheathered and his Father and Uncle anxious. It was an opportunity to learn s new consciousness. He felt it was more ancient.

Great Grandfather's House

Later, when they came to California, he felt intense alienation. The first time he heard his big sister say, "you guys," instead of, "ya'll," he felt betrayed by her adobtion of the language of an alien culture. She had accepted the fairytale image of California, while he saw it as a place of hidden intrigue, filled with people sunny on the outside and convoluted inside.

It was later, when Emory lived in Hawaii, that he experienced the true America of people living in peace and harmony no matter how their individual cultures had shaped them.

Annexation of Hawaii Caused by the overthrow of Hawaiian queen by white businessmen who wanted and a more favorable tax rate.