I have always believed that travel connects us to people and places we otherwise would not have known and it has the ability to impact and shape us in life changing ways. This belief is actually in my mission statement for Heather Lane Adventures:

To create and design purpose-driven travel that connects clients to different people, places and ways of thinking about and seeing the world.

When we share these places with the people we love, they not only gain a better understanding of who we are and how those places have shaped us, but it also opens their own eyes and minds to the world in a way that will make a unique impact on them as well.

Think about a time when you have shared a place near and dear to you with someone you love. How did it make you feel to share that experience with them? Did it bring you closer to that person?

Some of my most meaningful travels have been when people I love brought me into their world to understand them and connect with them more deeply: my grandparents taking me and my sister to the village in Italy they were from; visiting my husband’s country of origin and meeting the people who have shaped his life; visiting friends I have met throughout my life in their home countries and cities…

Sometimes these trips can take us closer to those we have lost: a dear friend of mine is about to embark on a trip to Iceland with her children to share with them where she and their late father went on their honeymoon.

Travel is not just an escape from something we are trying to leave behind or forget; it is a way to connect more deeply to people and places we share our lives with, it is a way to remember something or someone we have lost, it is a way to have a deeper understanding about the world, and it is a way we can grow and learn more about ourselves.

These next few weeks, I will be documenting a trip that I am taking to a place that has shaped me and I will be visiting people I have referred to as family. I will be sharing this experience with my husband so that he may know me better and meet for the first time a people and place dear to my heart. I hope it will also make an impact on you and how you see the world.

I would love to hear from you along the way, so please do reach out and share your reflections and thoughts with me. You can find my contact information in my bio.

Ngizohamba ikhaya lami……