Mark Twain once famously said that: “Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry and narrow-mindedness.”
And as I take my last short flight home from New York's JFK airport, I can't think of a better way to put it.
Working with two clients, I was able to visit seven new countries (if you include Hong Kong) and see parts of the world I had only imagined until now—Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand, China, Hong Kong, India, and Nepal.
Each place was so amazing, so unique. I can't imagine how I'll be able to share all of the stories. I'm really grateful to be able to do what I do. When I'm traveling for work, it means I'm doing what I love—helping social justice organizations make the world more fair and more just; and working everyday with people whose stories inspire the imagination.
I wish that I could share the sense of awe that I seem to experience almost everyday. There are days, of course, when I wake up exhausted, longing for my own bed and a simpler routine. But, it doesn't take long before I'm aching to go exploring once again—new cities, new faces, new food!
With this last adventure, I've now visited a new country for ever year I've been on the planet. For me, the longing to see the world started when I was an exchange student at sixteen. It's never stopped and I hope it never will.