My family name is Spanish, and my father impressed upon my brother and I a strong identification with that fact, even though none of us spoke any Spanish.  In fact, my brother and I are very removed from any lineal links, especially since the death of our father in 1983.  We’ve maintained no connections with anyone from our father’s side of the family.  We know very little of our ancestry.

My brother did once vacation in Mexico with a girlfriend back in the early 1980s.  That was his last international experience.  I never ventured abroad until much later.  In early 2003, I undertook a journey entirely by myself to Thailand.  I returned once in each of the next successive two years.

Now I am of the age of Retirement, but I cannot afford yet to forsake a stable Salary.  I have not even been able to afford any further trips abroad since that final holiday to Thailand in 2005.  I live vicariously, dreaming of being able to Retire abroad with sufficient vitality to enjoy a long and vigorously happy life.

And if I could somehow influence my brother to do the same, perhaps he and I would once again find the closeness we enjoyed in our younger years.