Betty - Betty@vansteenwyk.net

Being born into a military family probably contributed to my love of travel. I was born 6 weeks after returning from Europe and raised on stories from the “old country” since I can remember. My mom speaks French, my dad a little Deutsch, and although I took Spanish all through high school, I am currently on my second year learning German. My parents took all of us to Europe when we were in high school, and thus my travel bug was renewed. When I married Matt, we spent three days driving furiously from California to New York - why? Because my new husband was a fighter pilot in the Air Force and we were being transferred to Bentwaters, England for the next two years. Of course, being that close to Germany, I visited as often as possible. Matt had it really good - he flew there on air force missions very often and enjoyed the home-town comfort offered by his good German friend from pilot training. Heinz and his wife Christina are friends from way back. Although they currently live in Oldenburg, they have spent several summers and one Christmas here, and we have traveled back there several times also. Their daughter Isabel spent a year with us as an exchange student. Through the Freimanns, we met a former East German fighter pilot and his family who have introduced us to the former east and their way of life. What a wonderful experience to see a way of life through the eyes of those you once feared. Good bye cold war!

Our German experience did not end when we returned to the US. Matt still traveled a lot for business and frequently went back to Germany, occasionally taking me with him. At this point in our life, though, we had small children and I had to be content to attend german-related activities, like Oktoberfest 1988.

Matt and I have 3 wonderful children. Elizabeth - Todd - Gretchen.

The kids have been traveling since they were born, Elizabeth being only 6 weeks old when we moved from England back to the US. Of course, we took them to Europe for a 3 week visit a few years ago, which I think prompted the mass exodus on foreign exchange programs. Unlike my generation, they did not have any feelings about the cold war era and enjoyed climbing on statuary in the former East Berlin as Matt and I watched in awe. To us, these men represented ideology that was feared whereas it represented a new type of jungle gym to them.

Currently, we live in Central California and enjoy working on our house and traveling in our spare time. I graduated from Cal Poly University and work as a Controller in a company in San Luis Obispo. We also own our own consulting business, which suits Matt’s unending desire for variety and challenge. Our next goal is to make this business international. Then traveling would be fun and business! :-)

Here is my trip report from the summer of 2001.