Letter: My travel journey and trip opportunities

For the first six decades of my life, I was content to travel throughout the United States as opportunities arose. I was blessed with parents who both loved history, so any trek we made in the US was replete with stops at historical sites. However, traveling to Europe happened only through reading, movies and daydreaming. But in 2011, all that changed. An international student at Lake Region State College (LRSC), to whom Doug and I became quite close, shared my passion for Anne Frank. When her mom came to visit, they invited me to visit them in Luxembourg and promised to take me to see not only the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam, but also the Louvre in Paris. What life-long literature teacher and current college Humanities teacher could turn that down?

At the age of 58, my only international travel thus far had been to Canada, Mexico and Jamaica. As excited as I was at the prospect of finally going to Europe, I was also quite hesitant. I wasn’t an experienced traveler even stateside. How would I manage the navigation necessary to get me to Europe? But the lure of fulfilling my number one longtime wish of seeing Anne Frank’s house, especially after teaching her story for more than 30 years, was too strong to resist. So I got my passport, ordered some of Frommer’s European guides (I had not yet discovered Rick Steves), and started walking daily in preparation for the trip.

Here I am, 13 years, 20 trips and 22 countries later, so grateful for that jump start to my global education. I would be the first to say you don’t have to travel thousands of miles to see a different culture or astounding scenery, but a travel experience in Europe is significantly different from one stateside.

Through my travels, I have come to admire just how brilliant our ancestors were; I have come to value the differences that make each country unique; and I have come to understand just how much more we are alike than different.

That perhaps is the biggest benefit: a hope that maybe, just maybe, some day and some way, we can peacefully co-exist without fear or judgment.

LRSC offers travel opportunities to the surrounding community with two trips to Europe in 2025: Eastern Europe (Budapest, Vienna and Prague) and Norway.

Travel abroad with LRSC

The LRSC Travel with the President trip for 2025 is ready for sign-up. Since 2018, LRSC has organized community trips overseas to allow people to travel safely, in comfort, and with people they know. These trips are not only enjoyable and exceptional, but also educational, a part of LRSC’s mission to “enhance community vitality through quality education.” For 2025, we are heading to an area less traveled: Eastern Europe. More specifically, we are traveling to the crown cities of Budapest, Vienna and Prague.

This 11-day tour, or 14 with extension to Salzburg, begins May 28, 2025. To read a more detailed itinerary, go to grouptoursite.com/tours/eastern-europe. The basic cost includes all travel, including air fare and buses, all city tours and city guides, lodging, daily breakfast, three evening meals and a full-time tour director. Excursions, souvenirs and tips are extra, but the memories are priceless! Deadline for sign-up is September 30.

Travel to Norway

Here is your chance to visit the land of your ancestors with a 13-day trip to three key cities of Norway: Bergen, Stavanger and Oslo. The trip, in September 2025, has been designed to give insight into how Norway’s past shaped today’s American Norwegians, connecting the Norway that was to the Norway that is.

The trip is organized by Teresa Lyn Tande, professor emerita of Lake Region State College and also coordinator of LRSC’s annual “Travel with the President” trip abroad. This trip uses the same company, EF (Education First) and the same format (part days with tours and with optional excursions) and a Tour Director 24/7.

As with all EF trips, the cost covers air fare and lodging, all travel from and to the airport, daily breakfast, six dinners with beer and wine, two lunches, an in-tour flight, two train rides and one ferry ride.

A more detailed listing of the itinerary can be found at grouptoursite.com/tours/norway. The final cost depends on excursions, rooming preferences and the airport departure city.

To be assured of a spot on this trip, sign-up deadline is September 30.

Contact [email protected] if you have further questions on either trips.

Teresa Lyn Tande

Professor Emerita

Travel Abroad Coordinator

Lake Region State College