Travel’s Indelible Mark
“Travel isn’t always pretty. It isn’t always comfortable. Sometimes it hurts, it even breaks your heart. But that’s okay. The journey changes you; It should change you. It leaves marks on your memory, on your consciousness, on your heart, and on your body. You take something with you. Hopefully you leave something good behind.” – Anthony Bourdain
5 Continents
North America, South America, Europe, Asia, Australia
21 Countries
Canada, Puerto Rico, Bahamas, Mexico, Nicaragua, Costa Rico, Peru, England, Ireland, Northern Ireland, Scotland, France, Italy, Germany, Netherlands, Switzerland, Singapore, Malaysia, Cambodia, Vietnam, Australia
49 States
Wondering which state I still need to visit? Wisconsin.
100’s of international, national, state & local parks and wildlife areas
I estimate well over 500 separate trips, through 100 different airports… and none of this includes repeats.
Anthony Bourdain’s quote so perfectly sums up my personal experience with traveling. Traveling has not only changed me, but has significantly influenced my perspective & shaped my worldview. He was right when he said:
“It leaves marks on your memory, on your consciousness, on your heart, and on your body.”
So many vivid memories of the places I’ve been & the people I’ve met:
Making street food at midnight with four brothers in downtown Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Spending a day with local villagers in the Peruvian mountains participating in a “day in the life” experience.
Being held up at gunpoint in the jungles of Nicaragua in the middle of a birdwatching adventure.
Visiting a floating schoolhouse in a Vietnamese/Cambodian fishing village in the middle of Tonle Sap lake.
Sleeping overnight on a junk boat on Ha Long Bay.
Seeing the pubs of England, Ireland & Scotland as my band played a two-week tour.
Skiing the Swiss Alps.
Seeing the resplendent quetzal in the jungles of Costa Rica.
Watching a whale breach the surface of the ocean from a beach in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.
Driving through the beautiful, bucolic farmlands of Prince Edward Island, Canada.
Exploring the streets & museums of Paris, France.
And all of the details of those moments, along with 1000’s of others, have been captured in the pages of my journals and in the 1,000’s of photographs I have taken along the way.
As I said in an earlier post, traveling around the world has changed my life. It has given me the opportunity to meet people where they are and experience the sights & smells of places as they really are. My first-hand experiences have allowed me the opportunity see things for myself. The world is a beautiful, complicated, place and my beliefs are constantly tested, being flipped upside down and turned inside out. Always curious, traveling has made me more empathetic, kind, & understanding and overall, less judging & selfish. It has convinced me more strongly than ever, that we need to share what we have with each other more equally.
I believe that every human being should travel. In their own country. To neighboring countries. To countries all around the world. See as much as you can see. Experience as many different things as you can experience. And talk to as many different people as you can talk to.
As an American citizen, I believe it should be required that all Americans travel internationally, preferably to a developing nation. I am convinced that it would bring all of us closer together.
When I was 25, I made a pact with myself to visit a new country every year. And now, even after all these years, having missed a few here and there, I am still up to 21 different countries. 21. Simply because I set a goal. I still hope to see at least 50 countries…
And now, over the next two weeks, I plan to share some of my adventures in hopes of inspiring you to plan your own international adventures… once the COVID-virus is called into order.
If you’ve never traveled internationally, I assure you, it will forever change your life if you go into it with an open mind & an empathetic heart.
If you’ve already done it, perhaps you will be inspired to set your own goals to see the world at your own pace. As always, I would love to hear about your adventures, if you are willing to share.
Ok, let our virtual adventure around the world together begin…