My Travels with Pee-wee

Okay, let’s just get this out of the way right now: I’m no Pee-wee-come-lately kind of fan.

For some unexplainable reason, I adored Pee-wee Herman the first time I laid eyes on him. He was awakening to another fun-filled adventure-packed day in the opening scene of Pee-wee’s Big Adventure, which easily earns its place on my top five all-time films. I took my kids to see it as soon as it opened, in 1995, never dreaming it was more the other way around – my kids were accompanying me on what was to become a lifelong adventure of my own with Pee-wee.

Why do I love him so much? I don’t know, maybe it’s because he’s such an original, yet at the same time, so universal. Pee-wee is the personification of unbridled childhood emotion, full of innocence and wonder, effortlessly joyful, but also at times he’s undeniably brat-like.

Well and good, you might be saying to yourself; but what does any of this have to do with a travel blog?