Why travel? Why these countries? Why now?

As I've begun sharing my travel plans with friends, family and colleagues, I'm pleasantly intrigued to see the diverse range of reactions and questions I get. While fellow activists tend to be excited, sharing their own world travel stories and asking tons of questions, many others express a different response of concern. I don't mean to simplistically pit optimists vs. pessimists, for of course I'm grateful that everyone seems supportive and hopes that my trip will be a positive experience for me in terms of safety, health and personal growth. What's interesting to me is how in hearing about my trip, others internalize the very idea of backpacking around the world on one's own as a fun vs. a scary challenge. It's as if through already "living vicariously" through planning my trip, they subconsciously decide whether it's something they could ever or would ever want to do. This is so interesting to me, and brings up all sorts of sociological and cultural questions about how we view life and the rest of the world... which maybe I'll address in another blog post. :) For now, I wanted to try and address the main question I get, keeping in mind that I'm fascinated in the processes by which it even comes up as the central question in the first place. WHY?

Why travel?

For me, the question isn't so much why travel as why not travel. It seems that everything in my life is geared toward that lifestyle, from my comfortable shoes and minimalist shopping preferences to my outdoorsy/adventurous hobbies and a steady acquisition of Facebook friends who have the "where I've been" feature. I love learning about diverse cultures and places, trying new foods, and listening to music with words I don't understand. I'd prefer to talk with a cab driver about his home country than a good-looking guy I meet in a bar about his marketing degree ANY day of the week.

The fact is, I'm proud to belong to a generation where world travel is the norm and not the exception. I believe that many young people, including myself, see ourselves as global citizens who want to experience everything worthwhile in life, and with some luck and planning, we set out to make it happen. That's why I've always saved money and acquired habits/skills/experiences to fuel not only this round-the-world trip, but a round-the-world life. I've even thought so far ahead as to set my sights on being a professor at a community college some day, so that I will always have the summers to travel.

St. Augustine said "The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page." Call it an idealistic dream, but that's what I'm about, and I hope that many of my peers can relate. :)

Why these countries?

Okay, here is a far less philosophical question, but nonetheless also doesn't have a straightforward answer. :) Basically, when I started planning my trip 2+ years ago, I looked at the world map on my wall and made a list. Rather than list out everywhere I wanted to go (which is everywhere), I limited it to a few goals at the top of my list, as well as general areas where I'm interested in visiting for several weeks or months. I narrowed it down to:

1) Hiking Machuu Picchu in Peru and El Camino de Santiago in Northern Spain;

2) Volunteering for one-two years on women's health and education, environmental sustainability and community development (i.e. with the Peace Corps); and

3) Vagabonding for one year in Latin and Central America (especially Mexico, Peru and Argentina), Eastern Europe, Australia/New Zealand, Africa (especially Kenya, South Africa and Egypt), and Asia (Especially India, Thailand, China and Japan).

I reasoned that I would have about 8 months from ending my job in December, and traveling from January-September prior to graduate school. Over a few weeks as I read my "First time around the world" guide book, did online research about times of year and climates for different places I wanted to visit, and used the handy airtreks website to price and map out my flights, I decided upon a counter-clockwise trip around the world that started in New Zealand in January, hit up Africa in March/April, and ended with Machu Picchu in Peru in May. I liked starting in New Zealand and Southeast Asia because they seem relatively "easy" for a single woman starting out, and ending in Africa/South America because they seem more challenging. Gradually I decided to add things like the slowly melting glaciers of Mt. Kilimanjaro, and subtract things like El Camino de Santiago in Spain (where I've been before), considering my time constraints and budget vs. when I can return. That's the "birds-eye" view for why I planned my trip in this way... I'll save the details as to why I selected these specific countries for later (when I'm actually there!) :)

Why now?

When I was 21 living in Spain, I made a goal to travel to 25 countries by the time I was 25. So far I've been to 17-- Mexico, Canada, Guatemala, Spain, Portugal, England, Italy, the Vatican, Austria, France, Germany, Andorra, Greece, Morocco, the Philippines, and Belize. By the time I turn 26, I'll have been to 25 countries-- Fiji, New Zealand, Australia, Thailand, Cambodia, India, Ethiopia, and Kenya. Call it what you will, but at this point in my life, I'm ready to move on to graduate school, and am excited to take 8 months to travel and experience the world while I can! :)

"A lot of us first aspired to far-ranging travel and exotic adventure early in our teens; these ambitions are, in fact, adolescent in nature, which I find an inspiring idea... Thus, when we allow ourselves to imagine as we once did, we know, with a sudden jarring clarity, that if we don't go right now, we're never going to do it. And we'll be haunted by our unrealized dreams and know that we have sinned against ourselves gravely." --Tim Cahill, "Exotic Places Made me do it"