Dear Jane Travel

Dear Jane,

This is my first post, on what I hope will be a great travel blog.

The name of my blog and style of my blog in which I write it, is inspired by a family friend, Jane. She is a wonderful person who hit the retirement jackpot, and inspired my love of travel. At age 55, Jane retired early from her role as an art teacher in the New York City public school system with a pretty pension that allowed her to travel the world for the rest of her life. Not in the way digital nomads do, and not as one of the folks who live on cruise ships year round, but in the way that makes you excited for retirement when you’re just a teenager.

Jane was my grandma Vera’s friend, and then my friend when Vera passed away in 2003, becoming somewhat of a surrogate grandma. Vera would mail my brother and I comics from the newspaper and send postcards when she traveled. Jane picked up where she left off with the postcards. At some point I began to reciprocate with letters, and that’s how our friendship blossomed. I spent a few days with Jane at her Bronxville apartment during Christmas break when I was 12 or 13 and when she brought me home, she brought a bottle of champagne to share with my family. Unbeknownst to us, her family and our family were celebrating 100 years of friendship! Jane’s parents and my grandparents had been friends in the beginning and then Jane and I kept the friendship going.

Today, Jane is 93 years old. I haven’t heard from her in years, but I send her a Christmas and birthday card (she’s a Christmas Eve baby) every year. My relatives also send her Christmas cards, and theirs are mysteriously returned to sender each year. I don’t think Jane will ever see this blog, but I hope that it’s a fitting tribute to our history of letter and postcard writing, and to our love of travel.

Thanks for reading!

<3 Katherine

PS – Thank you to my amazing friend Beth for writing this post over on her blog, cozy does it. It was the little oomph I needed to get this out of my head and onto the Internet.