An Editorial

Get Out Of Town!

Get Out of Town!

Once upon a time my work required a whole lot of travel, but in recent years my attitude has been that the suitcases belong in the attic. I enjoy working from home these days so much until our children and friends get us to take care of things for them whenever they leave town because they know we are always here.

My wife’s constant reminders that it was time for us to take a travel vacation, however, led me to visit with Amy Lytle of House of Travel on O’Neal Lane in late May. The result was that Susan’s birthday surprise in early June was a pair of travel vouchers with matching airline tickets.

Amy led me through the purchase of a planned tour out West that began and ended in Las Vegas. A confirmed non-gambler, I had been to Las Vegas several times for work, but Susan had never been there. To guarantee the success of all this, I managed to con Loyce and Cecil Patin into accompanying us. Some of our oldest and dearest friends, the Patins have traveled the world over on tours and cruises to places such as Turkey, New Guinea, and Chile among others.

For us, it was our first experience with a vacation trip carefully planned and conducted by professionals. It was a delightful experience we completed in mid September, and we will likely want to do again. Amy did a great job of advising me, because I was absolutely clueless. Really, all of the credit for the success of the venture goes to her.

She put us on the right tour for us given our age and travel experience. We were wowed by the Grand Canyon, Monument Valley, Brice Canyon and the Lear jet the magician made appear on stage in Las Vegas. It was a week of total entertainment touring with a beautifully matched team of a professional bus driver and a tour guide, who warned us at one stop to order the “mini” Navaho Taco for lunch because it was absolutely delicious and large enough for two. Of course, I ordered one just for me, and it was one of the best things I ever tasted, but I could not possibly eat it all.

All in all, the most delightful thing was meeting people in our tour group of 48 travelers from throughout the world. All were more or less fluent in English, if heavily accented by the fact that they were from New Zealand, Australia or London. Others who we could actually understand better were from Israel, Germany or Brazil.

They were all filled with questions and concern about how things are going for people in our part of the world two years after Katrina and Rita. They were surprisingly well informed about the challenges faced by people in New Orleans and throughout Louisiana at this time. One thing I learned for sure on this trip is that the eyes of the world are on us, and they are all pulling for us. We better not drop the ball!

But don’t take my word for it. Take your own suitcase out of the attic and get out of town! I’ll bet you a mini-Navaho Taco you discover the same thing I did. The world is watching Louisiana!

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