How it All Began
As a little girl, I was always fascinated with the idea of traveling to exciting destinations in faraway lands. As a young child, my dad would take me to the airport at night, just to watch the planes taxi down for takeoff amidst the background of runway’s shimmering blue lights.
Many of my weekends as a child were spent at an RV park and campground staying in everything from tents to travel trailers. Then when I was eight years old, my family crossed the border to go out of the country for the first time for a visit Niagara Falls, Canada. I was hooked on travel from that point on!
My first time traveling solo was a carefully planned trip by train to visit my sister in Boston when I was just thirteen. My parents tucked me away safely on the Amtrak railcar with strict instructions not to get off until my stop on the ticket stub, where my sister and her family greeted me with huge smiles at the train station upon my arrival. I thought I was big stuff! Little did I know that this trip was just a trial run for what happened next.
My first flight ever happened on a cold, snowy day in January when I was just seventeen. I had a co-op job during my senior year of high school and by the luck of the draw, none of full-timers were available for an incentive trip the company had won. By default, I was given an all-expenses paid trip to Hawaii! I went with three other people from the owners’ families that I had never met – and none of my own family! I really was big stuff then!!
As an early teenager, my family had a motorboat that we would take out into the Indian River Bay near our home. As an adult, I traded the relaxing enjoyment of a small boat for the thrilling excitement of a cruise ship, where I experienced my first adventure to another continent on a jungle excursion in the South American country of Venezuela!
As I settled into married life, we planned an annual big vacation to a different destination each year. Our daughter quickly learned the thrill and excitement of traveling, as we would take this annual trek on her last day of school each summer. When she was just thirteen, we lost her father quite unexpectedly. Determined to continue our family travel tradition, we moved our vacation to coincide with the annual date of his passing, and her first flight and my first trip out of the country as a widow and single parent was a transatlantic, overnight flight to explore Italy! “Go big or go home”, right?
Fast forward to my life today. My love and traveling companion and I have made it our goal to visit all 50 U.S. states. We are almost there! Each destination that we visit offers unique things to see and do, so our journey is always different. This is the reason that I have decided to share my travels with you.
I invite you to travel with me as I relive the moments and memories throughout my life’s journey while seeing it through the lens of a tourist’s eye. Each post will share some of the amazing, inspiring, and awesome things that I have been blessed with seeing and experiencing in my travels. While my blog will chronicle and share my journeys with you, the blog content – well, “it’s about the destination!” I hope you enjoy it!
About Shelley
Shelley Hastings is the Founder, CEO and Success Coach of Synergy Empowerment Coaching, LLC, and the creator and author of It’s About the Destination! travel blog. As a certified professional coach, Shelley specializes in executive and business coaching for the hospitality industry. As a travel blogger, she has traveled extensively to exciting destinations spanning four continents, and shares her discoveries and photography from each journey with her readers. She loves to experience the unique sights, sounds,and scents of the scenery, culture, traditions and food of each place she visits and capture those as memories to share. Shelley embodies and truly believes in enjoying both the journey and the destination!
It's About the Destination! 