It was the summer of 2006 when we took our first family vaca to the Florida Keys (Key West). The beaches were beautiful, the sand felt like plush carpet under my feet - and I wanted to go parasailing so badly! I was sixteen and not really too much of a daredevil. No one wanted to join me on my venture so on the ground I stayed. I think it was during this particular trip when I realized tourist areas weren't really my thing. As much as I enjoyed the beach and Duval street - it was just a tourist trap as far as I was concerned.
We'd been recommended to go to a particular restaurant down there called, Blue Heaven. Here we go to another local attraction. We sit down, open our menus and realize nothing on the menu suits us (nothing against the food there, I'm sure it is quite delicious), nothing about that place suited our personalities. It just was another attraction. My dad made the decision to leave and find some place else to eat. Yes! No more walking along the path with trails of bright lights reading "tourists enter here!" We ended up finding some trailer of a diner with a porch decked in rocking chairs that served your food through a window. Not very classy, but very much SoFlo (South Florida). A locally owned diner serving fish, chicken, shrimp, and other food I don't recall.
One thing about my parents that I will always admire is their sincerity in getting to know people, getting to know people for no other reason other than having a genuine interest in others. Having a conversation with another human being because it's a part of humanity. Not feeling so above or beneath a persons [self proclaimed] status to just talk. It was during this trip, during this lunch hour at the diner, when I became aware of this fact about my parents; it became the highlight of my trip. They talked with the server (who was also one of the owners) for at least an hour. We sat on that porch for what seemed like hours eating and talking to the server and later the cook (the place was very small and not very busy so they had the time). I'm sure in reality we were only there for an hour or two but it doesn't matter. The fact that we gained an experience - a true experience of what it is like to be one of the locals. Something we couldn't have ever experienced at Blue Heaven or any other tourist attraction. It opened my eyes and helped me to appreciate life and culture in an entirely different way. This was the beginning of my new outlook on travel. And so it begins...
