Zanzibar

“…leaving home means a loss of innocence, encountering uncertainty: the wider world has typically been regarded as haunted, a place of darkness.”

I love this, an excerpt written for a NYTimes piece by Paul Theroux. A great article. I’ve read some of his works, and immensely enjoyed “Dark Star Safari” after my first trip to Africa. Aside from an underlying arrogance in his writing, that sort of makes me want to punch him, I do actually quite like his writing and count him as one of my favorite travel authors.

The article hit home for me, throughout my travels (though limited) I have on multiple occasions run into people advising me “not to go” or “it’s dangerous there!” Even my travel doctor said when getting shots for Tanzania, “I would never let my 22 year old daughter travel to Africa alone.” Luckily, none of this (well-meaning I’m sure) concern ever detoured me. And I think, how sad! To never travel to these wonderful places, out of fear. These trips, the good and bad, have been the highlight of the past 24 years, and I wouldn’t trade them for anything.

Though, I sometimes wonder if I should spend as much time as I do, reading these books, watching endless documentaries about travel or foreign countries. I love them, but they make me ache to travel, a feeling that has only recently not occupied my thoughts daily. I have over 100 countries to visit, hundreds of cities I would love to see. My life goals aren’t “job, marriage, kids, house” but rather “see this, go here, experience this.”  I can only hope to fulfill this. Articles like this one only continue to build upon that desire.

On a completely unrelated note…I sent of my passport today to get my Ghana visa. I hate entrusting it to FedEx-though to be honest, if they did lose it, I would mostly be upset about my lost stamps/visas! Here’s to hoping this crazy weather on the east doesn’t cause trouble.