As we sit in our homes, or our communities, more or less “stuck” with our lives, I am personally reflecting on my journey that began 10 years ago today.
On April 7, 2010 I took a cheap suitcase, a massive paper book, and two travel guides and I got on a British Airways flight direct from Denver to London. It is strange to think that ten years later I am sitting on my couch after a day of cancelling travel plans to the same location.
I never expected many of the things that I had happen on my trip 10 years ago to happen. I didn’t expect many of the things in the last decade to happen either. What I do know is that my trip to Europe at 19, by myself, was life changing in ways I still discover.
Travel, something I dreamed about my whole life, was the epitome of adulthood. I wanted to see the world. I thought that trip in 2010 would be my “big trip” in my whole life. I did not expect that next two trips to Europe, or the trips to the Caribbean, Mexico, and other parts of the United States.
I also did not plan on being a travel agent during the biggest challenge the industry has faced in its new cultural manifestation.
Maybe this is the best time to reflect on our lives. A moment when we take pause and think about how things have been going. Do we like this world we’re in? Do we like our jobs? Did we expect to be here? What could I do to make things better?
When I was 19 I went into the world hoping my trip would change me, and would help me figure out where to go in my life. It did and it didn’t. What I do know is that 19 year old me with a craving to make the world a better place came home with a deepened sense of that. The person that came home also knew she had more value and power than the person that left. The 29 year old that reflects on the last decade is even more empowered with recent events. But that is a story for another time.
I welcome you to travel along with an earlier version of myself, and I welcome you to escape into that journey as we sit at home and dream of easier days.
Happy Travels Reading!
Read More
- forward
- chapter 1
- chapter 2
- chapter 3
- chapter 4
- chapter 5
- chapter 6
- chapter 7
- chapter 8
- chapter 9
- chapter 10
- chapter 11
- chapter 12
- chapter 13
- chapter 14
- chapter 15
- chapter 16
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