Well, dear Fountain Hills Times readers, you might have noticed a lack of my byline in the last two editions of The Times and the reason for that absence was that for these past two weeks I’ve been trekking my way solo across Europe.

Now, this wasn’t my first journey across the pond. I’ve actually been a handful of times before this most recent adventure but this time was unique as it was my first time making the trip by myself.

My first stop on holiday and what I considered my “base of operation” for the two-week trip was Bellshill, Scotland.

With a last name that sounds like I should be the bombastic owner of a local pizzeria, it might be surprising to find out that I am actually more Scottish than I am Italian.

In 1989, my 20-year-old mother made the courageous decision to leave her immediate family and emigrate from Scotland to the United States.

What I can only imagine was a terrifying decision at the time turned out to be one of the best choices of her (or my?) life, as a few years after making the move my mom met my dad and eventually settled down to have me and my sister.

Thirty years after that solo trip I found myself doing the reverse but, just like my mother had family to welcome her in New York, I had family waiting for me at Glasgow Airport.

Seeing my mom’s side of the family was the major highlight of the trip for me.

People like my grandmother (“Granny,” as we call her), I’ve seen on her visits to Arizona. But there are aunts, uncles and cousins that I hadn’t seen for nearly a decade.

Having the chance to catch up with those family members, either by sharing long dinners together or just a simple tea time was a great reminder to me how the most important things in life are the people you choose to spend your time with.

Along with visiting Scotland I also spent a few days in London with a friend I made in college while she was studying abroad in Arizona.

It was an exciting chance for us to switch roles as guide and traveler, and there was plenty to be guided to in London.

After London I took a train under the English Channel to get to Paris, where I spent a day and a night walking city streets and museum halls in awe of the art and historic architecture.

I finished my journey with a few more days in Scotland and finally a cousin’s trip to the city of Dublin.

Overall it was an amazing trip that ended with me being infected by the travel bug, already planning my next destinations.

Really, my trip proved to me that traveling is one of the best things a person can do for themselves with the time we have.

As much as I saw the differences in cultures from city to city, I also saw similarities and how we are all dealing with the same things.

Scotland is experiencing a heroin epidemic not unlike our own, the UK has Brexit causing political division and all over Europe immigration is being debated.

To see that life 5,000 miles away is not so different from life here, well, it filled me with some hope.