Blessed

It hit me today that this trip ticks the last box off of a rather short, but hard-to-accomplish list. As of this writing, I have visited every inhabited continent on this big blue marble. Though I have yet to see even a quarter of what I hope to in my life, I have had some incredible adventures since my parents lovingly waved goodbye as I, at 13, hopped on a flight to Sydney that begun my lifelong love of travel. 

Since a slightly overweight, giddly, and more than a little terrified adolescent boarded that plane, I've looked down through the clouds at Machu Picchu and up into the rafters of the Sydney Opera House; walked the ancient highways leading to the Coliseum and jumped into the chilly waters of the Baltic. I've hiked the snow-capped Himalayas and listened to the mesmerising chants of orange-clad monks in the shadows of a Buddhist temple. I've explored the lush, rolling hills of West Virginia, kissed my wife on the Space Needle, and even walked straight through the middle of a California Redwood. 

I've stared in awe at sunsets in all four hemispheres and looked up at the moon in 24 different countries, always remembering that it is the same one my mom is looking at back home. For me, traveling isn't about ticking boxes; it is about finding out how much I don't know about what we continually misconstue as a 'small world'. Despite technology making communication easier and information more instantaeous, traveling is an intensely humbling experience. It takes only a few cultural missteps before you realize just how little you know about somebody else's corner of the globe- no matter how much research you did before leaving. However, those missteps are golden opportunities to learn something you didn't know about someone else and opens up the possibility for you to tear down their preconceived notions about you (as a man, an American, a white person, etc.) as well. 

One thing I have learned about myself is that my desire to travel is not motivated my wanderlust, but by an intense curiosity and a desire to know as much as I can about as many places as possible. I do believe that there is a practical application to gathering this information. Every experience a person has impacts the way they think and act. The more plentiful and varied your experiences, the more you can relate to, and appreciate, those who are different from you. This has the potential to diffuse tensions across the world, and I truly believe that real progress could be made if people who hate each other just traveled to their enemy's hometown and spent two weeks walking around. 

I am beyond lucky to have been able to exercise my greatest passion as much as I have. There are still so many places I want to go, and with every trip the list grows longer. I may have set foot on nearly every continent, but I haven't come close to seeing everything there is to see. I can't wait to find out where life takes me next, and I am so blessed to have a partner in crime who shares this same thirst for new places, knowledge, and experiences. Antarctica- we're coming for you.