My father was born in a small town in the US. He wasn't sure what he wanted from ______， but something told him to ______ and begin a new adventure.

He began that adventure traveling to cities in the US before going on to Australia, New Zealand and the Philippines. He took my mother and us three daughters with him and went wherever the road ______ him.

It's easy to feel _____ when you're on the road. We made lots of new friends on our trip — most of them are mechanics, since we often ______ hours in repair shops. But that was a way much _____ than sitting by the roadside while waiting for the engine to ______ when it was 40 ℃ outside.

Getting along well sometimes seemed ______. There were always a lot of _____， especially among us back seat passengers about who had to ______ in the middle. But even if it was hard, we learned a lot about ______. When we were traveling in the Philippines, we drove to Quezon City one day. It should have been an hour's drive but was nearly three thanks to bad roads and ______ traffic. “Did you put our suitcases in the car?” my father asked my mother as we arrived there. From the back seat, we saw her ______ turn toward my father. “No, ” she said. “I thought you did.” That was how a seven hour car trip turned into a 16hour one, which was mostly spent in ______.

On occasions like that, we had to learn to let go of our anger because we were ______ in a rolling box with the same people for the rest of the ______. Even if I sometimes felt like opening the car door and ______ one of my sisters out, I kept my feelings to myself.

This is why road trips were like ______ universities to us. We ______ our PhDs (博士学位) in how to get along with other people just by traveling in our old car.

If we were ______ given a second chance at life, we would do it all over again. Only this time would I put the suitcases in the car myself.

It was decades before I traveled solo for the first time in my life. This trip to Colorado was the first trip that was not for business or family reasons but just to travel and ________.

As I prepared for it, I felt excited and ________ at the same time. Would it be fun? Would I be bored? Would I stay in bed all day or would I be full of excitement to do the next thing? I wasn't ________. Little did I know that it was going to be a ________ journey of self-discovery.

As a good wife and mom, for me, travel is always about the ________; always thinking of who would ________ what. It's about family time and bonding. But on a(n) ________ trip who would I connect with? What would I do? Well, I found that I got to do anything I ________!

I met locals while traveling and also other ________. Honestly, I had conversations ________— on planes, while hiking, in restaurants, in the hotel lobby(大厅).

It was quite a(n) ________ experience to meet a mom of 18 kids and hundreds of foster (寄养的) kids, a cookie baker, and an internationally ranked marathon(马拉松) runner. The inspiring stories I discovered were ________ and nothing was like my wonderful ________ life at home. I got to go rock climbing, go hiking solo, and eat ________ . And it was all ________. Actually, it felt surprisingly ________.

It was just me, my SUV and my backpack for a week. ________ it was a breath of fresh air that I didn’t ________ existed. It's wonderful to be back home and know that possibilities are ________ and there is so much more out there to ________ and be impressed and surprised by!

Luckily, working as a travel writer introduces me to extraordinary locations, experiences and people. However, my recent hot air balloon ________ over the breathtaking ancient temples of Bagan has proved the most wonderful. Without ________ it will stay with me forever, and years later I can still smile at the unforgettable ________.

There are over 2200 temples and pagodas (宝塔) on the plains of Bagan,________the 11th and 13th century. For me, Bagan is the place where travel dreams come true.

The sunrise hot air balloon rides are popular so it's best to book ________. My husband Ryan Wright and I were picked up at 5:10 am. After picking up some additional guests, we made our way to the launch field. The pilots(飞行员) introduced themselves and explained the basics of ballooning. They were war m, ________ and funny and set my nerves at ease.

Then, ________ I even realized what had happened, we were off the ground. The earth just seemed to drop away from the hot air balloon. ________, I felt nothing when the ropes were________and we started to fly into the sky. Graeme ________ some of the best sights and photo opportunities, starting with the sunrise.

Once the sun was up, the temples and pagodas were even more beautiful. Ranging from________groups of buildings to tiny structures, Graeme was keen to ________ some of his personal favorites, as well as those buildings experiencing restoration(修复) work. Who knew that bamboo scaffolding could be so beautiful against the sunrise?

With the end of our flight approaching, Graeme ________ us of safe landing procedures. I really ________that he was so considerate and focused on ________! We were soon back on solid land.

This hot air balloon journey was the most amazing travel experience of my life.