It’s the season of gratitude.
I have a lot to be grateful for this year, including the opportunity to explore new places and return to some that helped shape me.
I visited three new countries - trekking through Nepal with my husband, indulging in Portuguese custard pastries called natas with my mom, and watching a storm roll in from a beach in the Dominican Republic.
I also went to a concert at Fenway Park, strolled DC’s national mall at night, and savored charcuterie at a vineyard in the foothills of central California.
No matter where I go, learning is always on the itinerary.
I think my enthusiasm about travel can be traced back to family vacations to historic sites like Plymouth, Massachusetts, Williamsburg, Virginia and day trips to Washington’s Crossing and Valley Forge.
When I was older, I expanded my horizons when I studied abroad in Belgium (although I needed to overcome some initial butterflies: see 1999). Studying in Europe revealed entirely new perspectives to me. More than simply sightseeing, I returned home as a citizen of the world, interested in the news and current events, and captivated by varying cultures.
For a long time, I was satisfied with continuing to explore Europe. It was unfamiliar, but still comfortable. Diverse, although most people looked like me. English was everywhere, and even if it wasn’t, our languages shared an alphabet. Plus, Europe was the backdrop for nearly everything I learned in high school history class.
I knew there was more to our world, but I needed a nudge to go out and explore it.
Then in 2015, I was sent to South Korea for three weeks for a military exercise. It was the nudge I needed to broaden my worldview.
South Korea was the first place I needed immunizations to visit (smallpox, typhoid and anthrax). Signs in the airport (and everywhere else) were in Korean - a completely unfamiliar script. The food and architecture were different than at home. Most people were a different race than me. Plus, South Korean life is influenced by having a precarious neighbor to the north.
It was the farthest from home I’d ever been – geographically and culturally. And I loved it.
Exploring Korea taught me three lessons that have been reaffirmed over and over, regardless of setting.
1) Getting outside your comfort zone is
healthy,
2) It’s easy to see differences among people and cultures, but ultimately there is more that unites us than divides us, and
3) There are endless places to see and experience in our world.
(Some days I find this third lesson overwhelming.)
After my three weeks in Korea, the pace of my travels skyrocketed; partly fueled by desire, but also by more old fashioned disposable income.
Since Korea I’ve extended my travels to five continents. From as far north as Oslo to as far south as the Cape of Good Hope. From the Peruvian Andes to the Himalayas in Nepal. From the dunes of the Abu Dhabi to Munich’s beer halls.
And I feel like I’ve barely scratched the surface. But I know without that trip to South Korea, I may never have had the courage to set out to an unfamiliar destination. To escape my comfort zone. To learn firsthand that there are things I share with people around the globe no matter the way they look, the language they speak or the way they live.
So, this season, I’m not just grateful for all the places I’ve been fortunate enough to visit, but for the trip to South Korea that gave me the nudge I needed to explore them.
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