214 Guest Posting--Teri Merrill

A Trip to Nowhere

A Guest Posting from Teri Merrill

Teri Merrill started out writing professionally in 1982, for a health care magazine in Chicago, IL. She moved with her husband to Washington, DC, and was a staff writer for various healthcare publications, but chose to become a freelance writer when her first child was born. 

Her family moved to Dallas in 1995, where she continued to write for several health care publications and then pivoted to religion and gardening articles for different outlets.

Her family moved again in 2009, to Winchester, VA, and Teri began writing religion, gardening and lifestyle articles for the Winchester Star. More recently, she has written lifestyle articles for Senior Correspondent, a publication for seasoned writers.

I had lunch with a friend recently, and as our conversation wound down, I asked where she and her husband were traveling this summer. She looked at me quizzically and replied: “Nowhere. We love our fur babies and house too much to leave.”

Finally, a fellow traveler who has the same favorite destination as me…nowhere! I’ve been visiting this destination for years and absolutely love it. Some people would call me a homebody, but I object to that description. Instead, I like to think of myself as a “Selective Adventurer.”

For many American vacationers, there seems a hyper, almost frenetic approach to world travel. Friends and acquaintances have either returned from a faraway trip, are planning a trip, or have a bucket list of distant places they want to go.

And when I say go, I mean GO! To Russia for downhill skiing. To visit the Galapagos or the mountains of Peru, any country ending with “stan,” or places that take a full day, or more, to reach.

I’ll admit, I just don’t have this peripatetic need. It’s not that I lack curiosity or don’t think there are hundreds of beautiful places to visit across the globe. It’s just that my corner of the globe is the most interesting and beautiful to me, at least most of the year. 

In the summer, there’s my vegetable garden to oversee and crops to pick and enjoy. In the fall, there are amazing hikes through brilliantly hued forests. In the spring, there are garden chores to undertake and each day brings a new plant or tree to admire as it burst forth in bloom. These may be small wonders of the world, but they are no less astounding to me. 

Does that make me an ugly American? I think not. I’m completely respectful of the people, laws, and language of other countries when I do travel. But I don’t enjoy struggling over menus, or maps, or bus routes, or how to say “Good Morning” to my waiter

Instead, I like to stick closer to home and do physically challenging things, like biking the rolling hills in my beautiful valley. Or along the coast of North Carolina. Or hike or kayak or walk almost anywhere beautiful in the United States. Somehow, these are adventures enough for me. 

My family knows how I feel, and while they are supportive, they don’t always agree. So that means there are times when they GO, and I stay behind with my pups and my garden and my small pleasures. And that’s okay with me. Because there’s nothing worse than feigning interest or excitement on vacation.

So go ahead and tell me about your travels. I mean it when I say I’m happy for you! But I can’t wait to share my stories of my vacation to nowhere!

Teri