Ever since I was a child, I have loved to travel.

I was the perfect travel kid. Even when I went places with just me and my parents, I could always find things to do to keep myself busy. Of course, being a Gen X kid, I had no fear and would wander off wherever we were and do my own thing. I was given a wristwatch and told to meet my parents at a specific time to head back to the hotel. I was about 12 or 13 when that started.

I remember being in Wildwood, NJ, with a pocket full of tickets for rides and a few bucks. I’d spend an entire evening riding the same rollercoaster repeatedly because I enjoyed sitting in that rickety old car on that old wooden coaster all alone, watching the lights of the boardwalk and hearing the sounds rising from the boards…