Wanderlust

I have an undeniable urge to travel.

I feel unsettled knowing how enormous the world is and that I will only ever see a part of it in my lifetime. But I want that part to be as big as I can possibly make it.

That is one of the biggest reasons I do what I do. It enables me to see things, do things, experience things that I would never see or do otherwise. Some people dream all their lives of being able to travel. Their work fantasy is quitting their job and traveling. My job takes me those places inherently. I know how lucky I am. In my business, it is entirely possible to work for two years and take six months off to travel. You might even have people in other countries to visit!

Since I moved East, I have been to seven countries and countless cities I would never have made it to otherwise. I became a certified scuba diver and that introduced me to another entire world of possibilities.

Erin and I talked a few times about people in America who will never have their passport, and that number of people is staggering, I am sure. In the interest of fairness, they don't necessarily need it. The States is full of new experiences and places and is huge enough to spend a lifetime exploring, all on its own. In fact {after being born in Cali and growing up in Louisiana}, I spent two years traveling up the east coast and was content to experience DC, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, New York, Maryland, Virginia. I've spent countless hours in Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Texas, Georgia.  I have traveled the States: Colorado, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Tennessee, Rhode Island, Nevada, South Carolina, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, West Virginia. By my count and memory, I am at 25 of the 50 states. But I am still discontented. I want to see them all.

When I moved to China, I realized how difficult my epic quest to see all the corners of the world will be. I want to see the sun set over the white buildings of Mykonos in Greece, visit the pyramids of Saqqara I studied in art history, experience the bazaars and coffee of Turkey, be amazed by the tulips of the Netherlands, feel the sand of a Croatian beach under my feet, eat my way through Italy while being awed by the thousands of years of history I studied in school being right in front of my face. Maybe even compare the country of Portugal to the Portugese colony of Macau and speak Spanish in Spain. How awesome would that be???

When I was little, my grandmother traveled all the time. She was an English teacher to foreign students at LSU for 30+ years. She had the travel bug too. I remember her loving Venetian glass, bringing me back keychains from all over: Turkey, Italy, France, Canada (I've never even been to Canada or Mexico!), Mexico, she loves Mexico! I want to be like my grandmother. Have wonderful adventures to tell my neices and nephews that I will one day have about. Maybe inspire them to see the world and not settle.

Having to choose places to see and go makes me unhappy, but I have to be practical. I am still young enough that I have time. I have no debt, no responsibilities. I have money saved from this job, and while I cannot spend it all, I can put aside a portion of those savings and have an adventure to go into the record books. Another one, for moving to China definitely qualifies as one of those.

So I plan. I dream. I lust after that road less traveled. Because this world was not built by traveling on a highway. It was forged by dreamers who dared to adventure. People like me who refused to believe the world ended where they knew it. People who constantly sought their next destiny. Why should we have only one?