[Whitfield:] Well, tomorrow is father's day and if you daughters out there are thinking of doing special for dear ol'dad, why not start planning a special get away with pops? Wendy Knight is out with a new book "Far from Home: FatherDaughter Travel Adventures." And in this edition of CNN the "Weekend Getaway" Wendy is with us from New York to talk about the book and why fatherdaughter travel can be such a fulfilling experience. Good to see you Wendy.
[Wendy Knight, Author:] Thank you, Fredricka; it's nice to be on.
[Whitfield:] Well thank you. Well, we know that it is very thoroughly documented motherdaughter relationshipsson relationships in traveling, but why did you feel like venturing into the daughterdad traveling relationships was something that was really invaluable?
[Knight:] Well, when I was researching the previous my previous book "Making Connections" which was about motherdaughter travel I found plenty written about fathers and sons and less mother and daughter and even less written about father and daughter. It was a time when I was processing my grief from my father's deathdaughter relationships, particularly as they related to the natural world.
[Whitfield:] Is it that people think that is a real anomaly or something just so unusual that it really has not been documented like you have chosen to do?
[Knight:] Yeah, I think that with a motherdaughter relationship or mother's connection with her children there is a real primal bond and I think there's an inherent distance between fathers and daughters because of those generational and gender differences and one of the surprising things I have found in sifting through the stories was that fathers today are actually relating to their daughters in ways that traditionally fathers with previous generations would do with their sons. So, in "Far from Home" you see fathers that are taking their daughters duck hunting, and fishing, and rock climbing and things like that.
[Whitfield:] Oh, that's great. And you found these stories and by really finding out about some personal experiences from a lot of documented people. What are some of the stories that really stand out with you that really do show that, you know, daughters and dads stepped out of their traditional roles to try and do something different?
[Knight:] Well, that's one things that I liked best about "Far from Home" is there's a sense of discovery that fathers and daughters experience when they're travel together. I think that fatherdaughter travel really does allow people to fathers and daughters to step out of those traditional roles of dads and daughters and really begin to see each other through different prisms and so we start to see each other as more complex human beings instead of these caricatures that we've created or assumed. For example in Jim Manux's story it's his daughter that becomes the mentor and on a caving trip in Belize it's really her gutsy attitude that gives him the courage to repel down this 300-foot cliff.
[Whitfield:] Wow. What is it about travel that really does, sort of, either reveal something or, you know, kind of help people really discover more about themselves and with traveling together?
[Knight:] Well, I think once you step out of those normal routines, you really, as I said a little bit ago, you begin to see each other as more complete human beings. In most of the essays in "Far from Home" there is a moment of realization about how the relationship has evolved. So, it's a discovery of how someone or something has changed. For example, in Camilla Cusamono's story of "Gods and Fathers," she returns to Sicily with her elderly father, and Sicily is his homeland, and there's a pivotal moment when they're in this small village driving where she realizes that she's now become an adult in his eyes and is no longer the "withering adolescent," to use her words.
[Whitfield:] Wow. So, it's not the destination, it's the journey, as always.
[Knight:] Absolutely.
[Whitfield:] Well, Wendy Knight, thanks very much. And for those of you trying to -you know think of some plans to get together, daughters and dads, at least the book is some inspiration to give you some ideas, it's called "Far from Home." Pick it up and maybe give it to dad for Father's Day tomorrow and then you can plan ahead for that journey you might want to take. Wendy, thanks very much.
[Knight:] Thank you, Fredricka.
[Whitfield:] Well, shock and outrage over the gruesome murder of Paul Johnson. Coming up, what President Bush says about his kidnappers. And, our Jeff Greenfield looks at the worldwide reaction and why the kidnap and murder of one man impacted so many.