Linda Russell is originally from Essex, England, but has lived in Atlanta for 23 years. Her recent travels have taken her to Chile, China, Vietnam, India, Turkey, Egypt, Borneo, Malaysia, Peru, Mexico, Indonesia and Nepal. She sometimes travels with her mother, Margaret Russell.

"Being from Europe, I have the travel bug that has been inbred into my genes! Everywhere I go, there are smiling faces beaming back at me, always pleased to see a visitor. The more remote, the more pleased people seem to be to see a new face.

(ENLARGE)
One of Linda Russell's many memory-making journeys took her and her mother, Margaret Russell, to Cappadocia, Turkey.
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"During that irritating and frustrating drive down I-85 every morning, I can remember traveling down the highways in Bali, sharing the road with chickens, ducks, people, motorbikes, rubble. Or around the mountainous roads in the Greek islands, where the blacktop would suddenly disappear and you would suddenly be driving on a dirt path. Or I can remember the camels and elephants trotting down the road in India, the buses trying to negotiate around the cows meandering along the middle of the road. Or in Patagonia, Chile, where the roads were deserted except for some wild foxes, guanacos and hawks.

"Mostly I try to remember the slower pace of life and remember that it doesn't matter what time I get to work — the work will still be there waiting for me whenever I arrive.

"I can think of all the different people I've met going about their daily lives. The people in the street markets in Vietnam, I've never seen so many radiant smiling faces. The family living in a communal long-hut in Borneo. (I'm so glad I don't share a roof with 20 relatives!) The women in their elegant dresses rushing around for their last-minute Ramadan holiday shopping in Malaysia. And the children with a sugar buzz the day after the festival ends, hassling us in Egypt.

"To me, it's exciting to be able to have a window into other people's daily lives and realize what we are missing."