When I was about 5, my dad’s had this big idea to get his private pilot’s license and buy a plane. Growing up in Miami meant, if you wanted to road trip, so it took forever to get anywhere.My mom said she would never get in the plane unless she knew how to fly it so she got her pilot’s license and eventually even taught flying part-time.
We flew all over the United States in that little plane which felt, to a seven year old, like a giant punishment, stuck in a noisy hot cabin with my annoying older brother for hours! Plus every trip, it seemed like we were escaping death one harrowing incident after another. Thunderstorms that shook the plane so hard, my mom would turn and say “Tighten your seatbelts, kids. It’s gonna get rough.” Once time is was so back, my brother and I linked arms because “if the plane ripped apart, at least we would fall together.” Or the time I was chasing tumble weeds on a cracked runway in Amarillo while my parents weighed the risks of taking off in 100 degrees and me thinking we’d never get out of Texas, its been 3 days, the state was just too big.
MOM AND DAD IN THE COCKPIT
Back then, you navigated by maps, so you could easily miss an airport or get lost (“Bill, that’s not a runway). One time on a flight to colorado one summer, my mother started yelling, “Box Canyon” and my dad suddenly made the plane dive and did a 180. I look up to see the sheer rock walls of the side of the mountain looming closer and closer until they were not six feet from my window. Later, I asked my mom what was going on, and she said, “Well , we made a wrong turn, wrong canyon,” as if we had missed the exit on the freeway.
For one spring break, we flew to Colorado to go skiing. We stopped for the night in Gage, Oklahoma (pop. 600 plus one pizza hut) and woke up to three feet of snow on the ground. The owner of the airstrip said he didn’t have a plow and my parents realized that not plowing meant snow on the ground for what could be months. Determined to take off, my mother theorized if we could get a car up to 70 miles an hour, we could take off. I remember watching my parents in horror gunning the old geezer’s cadillac up and down the runway trying to pack the snow and hit 70 miles an hour before taking out the fence at the end fothe runway while my brother de-iced the plane with my with my hairdryer and me thinking, yep, today is the day we all die. I think we flew commercially to go skiing after that. HA!
It wasn’t all sheer terror / boredom. My dad used to let me “fly” by taking the wheel, and I loved nothing more than zigzagging around the clouds like a race car driver. And, there were some incredibly magical moments like witnessing mile after mile of exploding fireworks on New Years Eve then catching the next time zone and seeing it all repeat again. Or the time we flew by Mt. Rushmore and got to see the presidents at eye level and so close, I could see the cracks in the faces of their humongous giant faces etched in granite.
I remember going to pick up my boyfriend near Orlando one summer at a private airstrip. It was a starless, pitch dark night. My dad said, “We are almost there,” and I looked around confused, “Uh, but, there is nothing out here. Are you sure?,” as panic set in because you never knew what my Dad was up to. “Where is the runway???” My dad laughed and said, “Watch the magic!” He fiddled with the radio dial then double clicked the mic and suddenly the runway light up below, appearing out of nowhere. And just like that, we were on the perfect heading.
My dad got really into flying, and a group of pilot cronies convinced him we should all learn to scuba dive and meet up in the Bahamas (hello, Jaws? no thanks). So, one weekend,, he tells us to cancel all our plans because we were getting certified. Off we flew only there was this one problem – they couldn’t find the island we were supposed to land at. It freaked my mom out so much she said she’d never fly again over water with only one engine. So my dad traded our single engine for a twin engine plane that was slightly larger, they got their commercial licenses so they could fly by radar and then the real adventures began! We flew all over the outer islands in Bahamas and down to Mexico and even to Alaska one summer.
RUM CAY, BAHAMAS
Mind you, this was in the 1980s when the Bahamas and Mexico were part of this little industry called drug trafficking. And, if you were flying a small plane to and from like say once a month (uh, DAD!?!), you were basically suspected of drug trafficking. Upon landing in Miami, being grilled by US Customs, it got to be so routine, mom would tell us, “Just go to the vending machines, this will be a minute,” as she watched agents tear out all the cushions and go through all the compartments on the plane.
My Dad’s bucket list was endless, and we started doing bigger trips to Europe, Israel, Australia, Argentina. Mom became a travel agent and when I was 15, she and I went on a Caribbean cruise for my birthday. She really likes cruises so as a family we did a bunch including the British Isles, Greece and Norway. My parents hated being in groups so we’d always rent a car in port to tool around on our own. It was on these zany trips with my fearless parents that I learned what having a sense of adventure is truly like. Its when the urge to discover something new is greater than the fear of doing it. “What’s the worst that could happen?” seemed to be our family motto.
In 1986, I wanted to go to London for a semester abroad. “Fantastic!” said my mom, “How about we start in Italy and work our way North to England to drop you off,” So, I got to see a bunch of Europe before the semester even started.
AUNT GRACI AND I IN VENICE BEFORE MY SEMEMSTER ABROAD
Once there, I traveled as much as I could. my friends and hitchhiked to Cornwall and Edinburgh, hiking on desolate trails, hitting pubs and staying in hostels. I once took the overnight ferry to Brugge for the weekend and another time, I flew to Germany where I met some relatives and visited East Berlin, Nuremberg and the Black Forest in Bavaria. Not to be left out, my parents and brother flew over for Christmas and we went skiing in Verbier, Switzerland. Between lots of fondue, raclette and chocolate, my mom broke her leg, my brother almost fell off a cliff skiing with a cute Swiss ski patrol her met, and my dad and blissfully skied an entire bowl of powder not knowing we were in an avalanche zone. The Hayes’ lived to see another day!
After college, I was working in the film business in Miami, and due to my extensive travels in the Caribbean, I started working for a company that specialized in underwater filming. We needed an island for a shoot, so I hired my dad to take the director and producer around the Bahamas looking for spots to film. I ended up doing a lot of work in the Caribbean, coordinating commercials and underwater shoots. And, part of my job was making all the travel arrangements for the crew and actors.
WORKING ON A COMMERCIAL AND TRYING THE NEW STEADICAM RIG AT OUR OFFICE
In the 90s, I got married, and my husband and I of course started to travel together – skiing, hiking all over New England, summers on Martha’s Vineyard and trekking to random islands in the Caribbean. When we had kids, of course, we took the kids everywhere.
CRESTED BUTTE WITH ETHAN ON MY BACK
Traveling with kids is one of the best things you can do as a family. It’s where you can be together and just be yourselves as you struggle to read a menu, marvel at a castle together, try to use the subway or just hug after a long day of new discoveries.
HARBOR ISLAND, ELUETHRA, BAHAMAS WHEN MAX WAS A BABY
In 2015, I got into a facebook group that was counting countries and started getting serious about seeing as much of the world as possible. My mom and I went on some really great adventures in Iceland and Japan as I wracked up more and more destinations.
During Covid, my mom and I needed to use up expiring American Airlines vouchers so she suggested we go to Tahiti on a Windstar cruise. It was there where my life took an amazing turn!! On board, I met a bunch of travel agents. One said to me, “You talk just like a travel agent.” My mom quipped, “You found your people!” We had a lovely week where I met the Vice President of KHM Travel Group, Geoff Cox, who encouraged me to join KHM and give it a try. So, I came home and announced I was a travel agent and started getting vacation requests right away.
MY MOM AND I IN FRENCH POLYNESIA
It’s been a fantastic career move for me. Now, my kids are out of the house, I’m doing what I love (thinking about travel all day, every day) and I just love helping people discover the world with their budget and interests in mind. It’s fun to think outside the box and make a trip special for someone. Being a travel advisor/agent is the perfect job for me because I get to use my life experiences, my creative problem-solving, and practical planning skills for every trip.
Currently, I’ve been to 100 countries and territories and all 7 continents (made it to Antarctica January 2024). I’ve been to 49 states (somehow Wisconsin slipped under the radar). From multi-generational to once-in-a-life honeymoons, I’ve helped 100s of clients plan all sorts of vacations.
So, whether you are just getting started and want to travel the world or you are just tired of planning your own trips and want someone fun to work with, reach out! I’m happy to help.
Where To Wander Next 