In the fall of 2019, I said, “I don’t think I need to travel any more. I enjoy finding adventure right where I am. I think I will just live my life here and not worry about traveling.” I was referring here to travel in the U.S. International travel was completely out of the question. This statement proved to one of the dumbest statements I have ever made.
I had traveled internationally when I was younger. I took three international trips from the time I was 14-19. I went to Israel, Albania, and France. I went to Ontario a couple of times while I studied to be a Pastor, but does that really count as an international trip? Then, for the next 20 years, I took zero international trips. I focused on other things. I got married. I lived in South Dakota. I had seven kids. I pursued higher degrees. It wasn’t the time.
four years after making that statement, I had visited Egypt twice, Mexico three times, Colombia twice, Spain twice, Quebec (that counts), and the Dominican Republic. I had a period of nine months where I went to Colombia, Egypt, Mexico, the Dominican Republic, Spain, and Colombia again.
What changed? Ironically, it was Covid, the thing that stopped international travel for most people. In March 2020, my eldest daughter, Anna (pictured above), was in her junior year. Covid shut down the school, and she did not go back to school the rest of the semester.
In the fall of 2020, schools opened up again here in TN. Anna had a decision to make. Would she do the online option and stay home, or would she attend classes with a mask on? My daughter has a light case of asthma and had struggled at times with breathing well at the old school building in the past. The idea of wearing a mask all day did not appeal to her. So, she tried the online option . . . and hated it. She is a real extrovert who loves to talk to people. Sitting in front of a screen all day did not work for her.
So, what to do? She decided to pursue homeschooling. She had done it in the past, and she thought it would work well in this situation. It was sad for her because she had really enjoyed her three years of high school. Nevertheless, she made that choice and went forward with it. Her senior year was working at an indoor waterpark . . . while wearing a mask. So, it turned out not to be too bad.
When she decided to homeschool, I was sad. I wanted her to experience the exciting events of her senior year: the friends, the celebrations, the special events, the graduation, and the trips. All that was now gone.
Then, I came up with an idea. What if we took a trip together somewhere in the world? In my mind, that would make up for a lot what she lost. So, one day, I said to her, “I think we should do a trip somewhere in the world. Where would you like to go, if you were going to go anywhere in the world?”
She immediately replied, “Scotland.”
I said, “Let’s do it.”
So, in October 2020, I began planning a trip to Scotland.
When the first variant of Covid appeared, prices of plane tickets went down dramatically. I bought cheap tickets for the end of my daughter’s senior year, May 2021. We were locked in, unless we changed it, because all tickets were completely changeable at the time.
So, it was my daughter’s experience of schools’ response to Covid that set me up as a world traveler.
But what about all the other places? Why did I keep traveling?
Several reasons. First, the first trip I made was such a transformative experience that I decided I would try again and again and again. It also re-awakened my interest in connecting with people from all over the world who were visiting the United States. This opened a lot of doors. I later went to visit these friends in their own countries.
Second, the trip was also transformative for my daughter. She eventually decided to study in Colombia, South America. One thing led to another, and I ended up taking her down there to get her settled in school.
Third, the pandemic put a lot of money in our pocket. This was money that we didn’t necessarily need. We decided to put it to use to do some things that we wouldn’t have done otherwise, like traveling to Egypt, rather than just paying bills. Money tends to fly away unless you tell it precisely what you want it to do.
Finally, as a Pastor, I have had the privilege of witnessing the seasons of people’s lives. Many people said, “I’d like to travel when I retire.” I had come to realize that this doesn’t always work out. You don’t know what your health will be, what your spouse’s health will be, what your parents’ health will be, or what your kids’ situation will be. It’s very, very far from guaranteed that you will be able to travel in retirement.
Covid was the catalyst for me, but you don’t really need a lot of reasons to become a world traveler. It’s enriching, fun, and exciting. It was hard for an average middle class American like me to put all this together and make it happen, but it was not hard to find motivation once I caught a glimpse of the transformative power of international travel.
How hard was it to become a world traveler in the time of Covid? It was hard. Read the story here. After traveling the world in the time of coronavirus, international travel seems really easy. Getting into and out of Mexico in September was so easy that it took out some of the adventure for me. Traveling in the time of coronavirus was an adventure that I will always count as a triumph and unforgettable experience.