2 . When I was in third grade, my family and I took on an unforgettable trip across the country. It turned out to be more than just a/an _______ journey; it was a journey of discovery into our _______. Every day, Dad _______ us with his trusty road map. Mom, the heart of our family, shared folk tales and painted pictures about the upcoming _______. We went through diverse _______from the thick forests to the vast deserts of the West.

One day, while hiking through the Grand Canyon, I _______   a particularly rough path. Frightened, I _______, not knowing how to proceed. That’s when my parents _______ .

As Dad showed me footholds, Mom coached me with calming _______and reminded me of the breathtaking views that lay ahead. Then, I________the confidence as my feet ________ solid ground again. When I finally overcame my fear, I felt we became ________ as a family.

From then on, every evening, we’d gather around a campfire for what we________called “Family Reflection Time”. During these sessions, we’d share laughs, ________, and insights from the day’s experiences.

The trip taught me that the true meaning of travel isn’t merely about reaching the destination but about the personal growth that happens on the route, and the family bonds formed when facing ________ together.

3 . I've always loved mountaineering (登山) and the mental and physical challenges that go with it. This time the peak (山峰) of Mt. Whitney is my ______. There are quite a few ways up to the big mountain, but we ______ the traditional one at last, almost 12 miles to the top.

I decided to make this trip less about ______ and more about the climb and my personal journey with a friend. Thinking about it this way, I decided to carry only one camera to ______ the course, but it still added 3.2 pounds to my backpack, which ______ 2.8 pounds without the camera equipment. Fortunately, climbing with a friend ______ sharing the weight, keeping our packs a little lighter. Therefore, we ______ reached the top just two days later. This particular trip was prepared for a personal trip on purpose to get to the peak and enjoy the breathtaking ______.

Climbing such tall peaks ______ every aspect of you, as a nature photographer. It can test both your physical strength and photographic ______. Can you imagine being 14,000 feet up, ______ the thin air of the high-altitude (海拔) environment while also trying to be ______ with your compositions (作品)? That’s what we were doing! And that’s the joy that comes with climbing Mt. Whitney as well.

Like any other ______ in nature, there are risks in mountaineering, though, Extreme altitude and the unpredictable (无法预测的) weather will test even the most ______ climber. Despite the fact, mountaineering for me is all about the experiences, which makes me live to the ______.

4 . On Christmas of 2017, I was born again. We like to spend our Christmas holidays somewhere warm abroad, and that year we_________Uganda. Nature, wildlife, and sunny days were a_________when it was so_________and dark in Europe. Life was beautiful, and we had a rental car and a busy schedule ahead to explore the country.

This is where this short travel story turns into one of my most_________travel experiences. At Murchinson Falls National Park, we had a car accident. I lost _________of the car, and it rolled over, destroying windows, chassis(底盘),and the engine. But we were alive! My right arm was_________injured, but we_________to walk to our lodge(旅馆), not far inside the_________. In the lodge, I was_________to learn that there was a pretty decent American hospital in Masindi that was just a one-hour drive away. Moreover, one of the lodge’s guests was a nurse who__________the wound while we were waiting for the taxi. The hospital took care of us and after a couple of injections and stitches(缝合), I was__________to head to our new hotel in Masindi; however, my wound required daily__________and more injections, so we were__________to stay in town for a few days.

The town’s highlights were the market and our__________visit to the hospital, so we__________looking for the small things,__________with the medical staff and the people in the market, and learning more about their customs.

We learned to slow down. When we were allowed to__________, we took a road trip through the country to see something else. We did not care about our travel bucket__________anymore - we were__________, and we wanted to enjoy Uganda’s unique nature and its people. In the end, our Uganda trip was not about the places that we saw, but the people that we met. It was travel for__________VS sightseeing.

5 . I found a wonderful picture of Maolan karst cones online and presented it to the innkeeper. “You can’t go there,” the innkeeper ______ me. “The viewing platform has been closed due to ______ that too many visitors could cause geological damage.”

Despite our disappointment, we ______ an alternative: a seven-hour hike through the “funnel forest”. Initially, we were ______ to run the risk. However, I had ______ the tourism motto in the nature reserve: “If you don’t do it now, you won’t do it in your lifetime.” Three of our group ______ decided to venture into the forest. The innkeeper responded with a knowing ______ : “Great. Bear Grylls went there.”

The next morning, we set off with a local ______ . Rain came and went three times, and before I actually ______ to climb over the first mountain, I had already got wet to the skin. I was a walking ______ of mud and water.

Our guide, in his 50s, behaved like a botanist, introducing the locally specific plants to us, but I was hardly in the ______ . Every step sank into the muddy, sucking ground. Every log or rock in front of us was a physical ______ . “One can never reach those places without strong willpower,” I murmured, reciting that millennium-old ______ , over and over again.

Sinkholes and entrances to underground rivers kept popping up along our ______ . Thinking of them leading to an unknown world, I began to ______ the road that I can control even more.

Wandering in a green chaos without any obvious landmarks is also breathtaking.

6 . I’m not a good traveler. Without curiosity to get out and ________, traveling has never been my strong point. Sightseeing is not an experience that I find ________: when it’s too hot, I’m uncomfortable; when it’s too cold, I’m uncomfortable. Not knowing what the food will be like at new places has always made me ________.

It would be kind to say that I have a low sense of ________. So, I was ________ about doing a travel show that centered on pushing my ________. But it just goes to show that we’re never too old to ________ ourselves.

South Africa was the biggest surprise. I had never really ________ to go on safari (观兽旅行) and was not excited about the prospect.

Once I was ________ there, all of a sudden, I knew why people say it’s exciting. I started to develop a great ________ for the animals. We visited a rhino conservation park (犀牛保护公园), where rhinos which have been badly injured by hunters are taken good care of. I even bottle-fed these beautiful babies. The most memorable part was the people I ________.

I’ve always been a very ________ person. But the experience of meeting so many new people has been ________, allowing me to ________ some of the cobwebs (蜘蛛网) that have formed for many years. Seeing the world has helped me ________ my natural cynicism (悲观情绪) and turned me into a more outgoing and positive person.

7 . For almost every traveler, culture shock is unavoidable. But culture shock isn’t always a ________ thing. It can be an indication that you’re growing. The new ________ stretch your mind about the world—different languages, cultures, customs are just a few ways a travel culture shock can ________. If you’re able to ________ the culture shock, then you will be open to ________ these foreign experiences.

When I traveled to Egypt, I knew neither their language nor what to expect. All I ________ was it’s conservative. When I landed, I really felt as though I’d been ________ to another world. The biggest shock for me was the lack of ________ on the road, horses on the side transporting goods, three people ________ on a one-person motorcycle, four lanes but six cars crowding in—anything ________!

On the first night, something frightening happened. A very loud ________ voice went off at midnight. I felt ________ for the first few seconds until I realized it was the adhan(祷告). I then got used to it and admired the locals for the way they ________ their time to ensure they could complete the adhan.

As a woman, another ________ of mine was ensuring I followed the Egyptian dress styles and dressed ________. No matter how conservative my dress though, I couldn’t help but ________, especially with my bright red hair!

While I did get a bit of unwanted ________ (mostly by school girls wanting to take my picture), traveling definitely gave me a ________ cultural experience. I’ve since traveled several times and always managed to ________ things to be shocked about, but I love continually being surprised by the ________ of Egypt—the Nile and the mysterious pyramids!

8 . My 13-year-old daughter sent a postcard to us while we were still away on our most recent trip to California. It ______ our house about a week later. The touching ______ nearly brought me to tears.

“Even though we ______ have two days of adventures ahead of us, I am just so ______ for everything we have experienced together on this trip,” she writes.

Our youngest daughter is just about to ______ 11 years old. In those years, we have never taken a true ______ as a family of four to a place we’ve never been. Like most ______, I have no idea where the time has gone. But I also think these are some of the best ages to ______ with kids.

This vacation to California was our very first ______, long-distance trip together. The kids helped ______ the trip with input on things they might like to see and do. They reached for our hands in crowds. I can’t remember the last time they held our hands ______.

One of our family bonding moments came when we took a family surfing lesson. It was the first time any of us had tried surfing, although it was something the girls had been ______. The smiles on the girls’ faces were everything. They were so ______ when they stood up on the board and rode the waves one by one.

Those are memories I’m going to ______. And yes, I will remind them of these times the next time I reach for their ______.

9 . What I love most about traveling isn’t seeing the famous landmarks or eating great food. It’s watching my mom gasp (倒抽气) at something ______and unexpected. In Yellowknife, it was the bright aurora (极光). In Japan, it was 3,000 cherry trees. To get to them, we had to travel great distances (距离) and______our trips just right. All of them were better because we saw them_______.

When I tell people how much I like to______with my mom they often feel_______.We expect parents to show their children the______. When children become older, things are______. They prefer traveling with friends. They no longer have to see the world through their______.

When I was little, my mother was my_______. She is responsible (负责的) for everything that makes me a good person. She’s kind and patient but she has little time to_______. So at 23, I booked two tickets to Yellowknife. We would explore the world as friends; I could______my mother to see the world on her own terms.

Our trips are not without______times. We’ve gotten on the wrong train, encountered (遭遇) wild animals, and even lost our passports. But I have never______any of the trips with my mother. Before our ______, I had no idea how much my mom loved the mountains. Most of all, I never knew how much I could______her as a friend.