Around The World in Forty Years : Karen Sketch Graphic Design : 9781735375304 : 1735375306 : 18 Nov 2020 : My journaling began on my first visit to Europe in 1980 when I wrote of my overwhelming first impressions in a descriptive letter to my in-laws. Several more trips followed to magical places. It wasn't until I traveled through Southeast Asia in 1986 that more extensive writing began. Capturing the essence of the places I visited in words became a passion and I continued to journal each overseas trip. Sharing them with fellow travelers let to lasting friendships. Growing up in a small town in Michigan as the oldest of six in a middle-class family, travel consisted of an occasional summer vacation in a nearby cabin on a lake. My maternal grandparents lived on the north side of Chicago and I stayed with them on several occasions. Those visits seemed exotic. The thought of international travel never crossed my mind. That all changed when my husband accepted a position in a company