Fonthill, Doylestown, Pennsylvania, 2001 (PBarba)

Twenty-two years ago we got married in Pennsylvania, and twelve years ago in California we grew our family with the birth of our twins Drew and Gwyn.  The Dream officially began when we decided we wanted to experience the world as a family, seeing it not only through our own eyes, but also through the eyes of our children.  Travel has been a part of our lives for a very long time, so the actual genesis of the idea may have started to develop much earlier!

We first started traveling the world separately.  Pete’s first international experience was to England as part of a school group when he was 13.  My dad was in the US Navy, so I lived in Japan as a toddler!  Unfortunately, I only remember fragments, but my home was filled with exotic souvenirs of my parents’ several overseas assignments.  The first trip outside of North America that I remember was a study abroad in Australia when I was 19.  These experiences during our formative years made traveling an obsession!

Pete and I started traveling together shortly after our engagement in 2000.  We chose gorgeous Italy and had a romantic whirlwind tour based largely on Rick Steves’ books.  During residency we traveled by ourselves and with friends to the Caribbean (and throughout Colorado).  Once we both completed our higher education we celebrated by embarking on our next big adventure in Tanzania.  We climbed to the “roof of Africa” Mt. Kilimanjaro, and then treated ourselves to a mind-blowing safari in and around the Serengeti!  Other “adults only” adventures include Costa Rica, Vietnam, Mexico, Thailand, and Morocco!  More on all of these another time perhaps…

The complete Barba Family started our travels less than three months after the twins were born!  We visited grandparents in Hawaii, and shortly afterwards our families on the East Coast of the US.  Our first transatlantic trip was when Gwyn and Drew were six and we visited England and Scotland.  Playgrounds, pubs, and castles were an excellent choice!  Since then we have visited friends in Italy, sailed in Belize and the Bahamas, and explored and sailed in Croatia.  Plus we have enjoyed epic US road trips and often fly to visit family and friends from Alaska to Florida.  We are definitely blessed and bitten with the travel bug!

Through it all we have learned a lot about ourselves and each other. We also have travel habits (good and bad), lots of experience (good and bad), and an unquenched thirst to see more!