How Travel Fits Into My Life

I have loved to travel since I studied abroad in Denmark when I was 20.  While I had been to Europe once before when I was 16, my experience in Denmark was the first time I was traveling, exploring, and learning, mostly on my own terms.  Even though I stayed with a host family (who were amazing) and studied with other students in a scheduled study abroad program, I was on my own to figure out the transportation system (yes, I got lost), find my own way around the city (hello walking!), interact with the locals, and plan my own activities outside of my classes.  And one of the things I most appreciated about my semester schedule was that I had plenty of time to plan travel.

I had the chance to bike around Bornholm Island, visit Russia with a study group, see Germany and Belgium with my grandpa and dad, visit an old friend in Sweden, and explore London with my best friend, Katie.  Not to mention all the cool places I got to explore within Denmark–Copenhagen, Aarhus, Odense (birthplace of H.C. Andersen), the statue of the Little Mermaid, dozens of churches and museums, Helsingør (home of the Kronborg Castle, setting of Shakespeare’s Hamlet), and Christiania (a self-proclaimed autonomous neighborhood within the city of Copenhagen).

Every chance I had to explore the country, often on my own, I took.  It was a fabulous mix of discovery, exploration, and freedom to learn about what I wanted to learn about on my own terms.  I could seep myself in local and European history,  marvel that I was in a building 700 years old, climb a tower to get the best view in the city, eat a hot dog from a street vendor (trust me, way better than just a hot dog), wander cobblestone alleyways, and take the train anywhere I wanted.

Man, I really want to go back.

Since I returned home in 2004 I’ve tried to travel as much as possible.  I took a 3 week roadtrip across the US with my college roommate and went back to Denmark to visit a friend.  After Heather and I met, we traveled,too–we explored New York City for a week (sleeping on the floor of a friend’s studio apartment in Harlem) and we drove to the Outer Banks in a car without AC to spend a week camping.  We went to the San Francisco bay area, twice, to plan our wedding and to get married.  We went to Mexico on our honeymoon.

Every trip we took was a chance to learn more local history, experience something new, and take the time to roam and explore.

But then jobs and graduate school and years of living on one and half salaries as Heather and I both tried to find permanent employment, put a halt to our dreams of tons of travel.  In reality, we couldn’t financially find a way to make it work on a regular basis.  We spent a year trying to find a way to make living in New Zealand a reality, before we realized it just wasn’t possible at the time.  We also dreamed of hiking the Appalachian Trail, but again, couldn’t find a way to take three months away from a steady income doable.

These days, our travel consists mostly of flying home to see our families in WA and VA, occasionally traveling for a wedding (lets do more of that please!) and fitting in a camping trip or two in the Rocky Mountains.  Don’t get me wrong–I love this kind of traveling too.  Seeing our families is awesome (I really do miss them) and any excuse to get out into the mountains for a weekend is always a good one.  But I miss the big trips; the excitement that comes from planning for months before we leave and the anticipation of discovering and experiencing something completely new.  And the love of documenting that experience in photographs so I can remember it and share it with others.

As we begin to start our own family, I know those are experiences I want to share with our kids.  I want them to see new things, to experience a culture other than their own so they have a broader view of the world, to find their own interests in unknown places, and to grow up knowing that there is a wide world of possibilities out there.

And so, as Heather and I move forward, I promise myself that I will always be on the lookout for opportunities to travel, wherever they might come from.  I believe its important.

There is beauty in every corner of the world and I want to see it.