Living My Dreams, Part 1

For several years I felt it.  There was this longing to make some type of difference overseas.  It all started when I was probably the ripe young age of 23 I think.  I took my first mission trip with the youth group to Costa Rica for spring break, followed that summer by a trip to Kenya with some other young people.  In Costa Rica, I was more concerned with making sure the kids learned a lot and had a good time.  Kenya was different though; I fell in love with the idea of making a difference overseas.

The next few summers I would go different places, all with the goal of making a difference.  We all want to make a difference; I think that’s part of what makes us human.  After a few trips abroad, I fell in love with two things, missions and traveling.  I would usually do a 7 week mission trip and a 1 week vacation afterward.

On the second summer trip overseas, I learned about something called a gap year.  The basic idea is that when you graduate high school or college you take a year off and either travel for fun or travel and volunteer different places around the world.  When I learned of it, I instantly felt I had been duped.  Why had no one told me about this before??  It then occurred to me that it was mostly other Western countries that had young people who did that, usually not US citizens for some reason.

Shortly afterwards, or perhaps as soon as I learned about what a gap year was, I made it my goal to do one myself.  I made it a goal to travel around the world.  I wasn’t sure how I was going to do it or where I’d go, but I knew I was going to have to at least try.  At one point, I’m sure I was practically obsessed with the idea.

As with any idea though, there’s a difference between thinking about something and actually doing it.  On my last blog I talked about how I want to write a book, that’s a perfect example.  I think about it, but I don’t take the time needed to write my book.  Somehow when it comes to traveling though, I usually make it happen.

I learned about what a gap year was in 2007.  In 2010 I made it happen.  One of the best times of my life was my 8 month round the world trip.  It had been only a dream for years, and it finally happened.  I ended up going to 15 countries within those 8 months and had a wonderful time.  It didn’t come without its fair share of difficulties; I experienced some real times of loneliness on that trip.