Well, in
four days I’ll be spending the night in a hostel in Lima, and in six I’ll be at
the Bolivia Wildlife Sanctuary! Yesterday was my last day working at Target
until September, and it was a day full of mixed emotions. I felt a lot of
happiness and excitement, combined with just a little bit of sadness as I was
hugging my coworkers at the end of my shift. Some of my coworkers at that job
have come to also be among my best friends, and I know I’ll miss them this
summer. But, after feeling like I’ve practically lived at that store over the
past few weeks, I’m happy to now be able to focus all of my time on preparing
for this next adventure.
I’ve spent
the last month or so getting all the supplies I’ll need for this trip, and,
with the exception of a few last minute items, I think I’ve succeeded. Sitting
on my bed right now writing this blog post, I’m surrounded by clothes,
travel-size cosmetics, travel adaptors, my microtowel, compression packing
bags, luggage tags, and other items that I will soon be packing into my Osprey
Kyte 46, the backpack that I got a few weeks ago at Whole Earth and have
absolutely fallen in love with. I just can’t get over how comfortable it fits
and how well it packs up.
One thing
I’ve noticed more and more as my departure date draws closer is the same thing
that I noticed last year as I was preparing for my trip to Africa. The main
responses I’ve been getting from people when I tell them about my trip are
things like: “you’re so brave, being a young woman traveling alone in these
foreign countries”, “be careful, it’s very dangerous”, “I’ve heard this and
that about the risks of traveling in those places”, “come back in one piece”,
and so on. My experience last summer in the beautiful country of South Africa
taught me many things, one of which was to take prejudices and horror stories
with a grain of salt. I was told time and time again about how dangerous South
Africa was, especially for young women traveling solo, and I never once remember
feeling unsafe. I explored all over South Africa, from Johannesburg to the
gorgeous city of Cape Town to Pretoria, and more. Sometimes I was with other
volunteers, sometimes I was by myself, and I never remember feeling like I was
in danger. There were times when I almost expected to feel uneasy, like when I
was walking around Cape Town by myself, but I was surprised to feel completely
comfortable even then. Travel, especially international travel, teaches lessons
that I don’t think can really be learned any other way, and one of which is to
tear down your prejudices.
A lot of
people have also asked me if I’m getting nervous as the trip gets nearer, but,
like last year, all I feel is excitement. I’ve never really been a worrier-
some people say it seems like my brain just lacks whatever part of it triggers
nervousness. Whether I’m preparing for a job interview, getting ready to give a
speech to a group of people, or about to embark on a long, international solo
adventure, I’ve always felt excitement, but no nervousness. My theory: what’s
going to happen is going to happen whether you’re nervous or not, so what’s the
point of worrying?
With that
being said, I think this blog post is long enough, so I’ll end it here. I’ll
definitely try to make at least one more before I fly out on Monday. This post’s
food for thought: “Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and
narrow-mindedness.”- Mark Twain
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