Sierra Blogging Post Archives

Join The Blogging Post as we head around-the-world with our friends Drew & Erin. They’ll be sending us regular dispatches and updates from around, across, and all over the globe. This is their final post…

A Dream Come True

We’re back in the U.S.A. After a year of traveling to far corners of the globe, Erin and I have returned to our home country. And what a nice place it is! I had an unbelievable time seeing and experiencing the world, but I am also so thankful to call the U.S. home, and my love for my own country is stronger than ever. I am so grateful to see my family and friends and reconnect with our lives here at home.

This past year has been a dream come true. Traveling to all the wonderful places we visited has been a long-time dream of mine and to have completed such a trip, and to have accumulated such a wealth of amazing and mind-blowing experiences that will stay with with me for the rest of my life, is incredible.



Trying to summarize a year full of adventures and experiences into just a few paragraphs is a daunting task, but I will try to share some of my big picture thoughts and reflections on the journey. Before doing so, I would just like to thank Erin’s and my families, friends, coworkers, and fellow travelers who helped us before, during, and after our journey for their invaluable contributions to making our trip a success. I’d also like to thank Erin, my wonderful partner and girlfriend, for making it happen by my side.

When daydreaming about this trip in the years before it happened, I used to envision so many amazing natural places all over the world that I wanted to visit. Now I have a crystallized memory of just what those places look like – and they did not disappoint. The world’s natural beauty is magical.

The pristine reefs and underwater life of the Caribbean Sea... the jaw-dropping magnificence of the Na Pali coast on Kauai... the daunting stature of the Himalayan peaks in Nepal and Tibet... the gorgeous beaches and islands of Thailand and Southeast Asia... the stunning vistas and pristine wilderness of New Zealand’s South Island... the dramatic glaciers and rock spires of Patagonia... the unsung splendor of the high desert and canyons of northern Argentina. And finally, the magnificence of Peru’s Cordillera Blanca from a frosty summit at nearly 19,000 feet. The earth is an amazing place, and I count myself lucky for having had the opportunity to see so many of its treasures.

But while the natural beauty of the world may have been the lure to the places we visited, the people and the cultures that we found there turned out to be equally as impressive. My understanding of different people and their histories, cultures, societies, and religions has been expanded tenfold relative since I left for this trip.

On our travels, we heard the five daily calls to Muslim prayer at the mosques in Malaysia – a peaceful and multi-cultural Muslim country that was refreshing to see in comparison to the viewpoint I had from inside the borders of the U.S. We witnessed old Buddhist women spinning their prayer wheels as they walked around mani walls and recited sacred mantras in the mountains of Nepal. We walked through the markets of Bolivia and observed llama fetuses and dead pumas for sale, the former to be used in religious sacrifices to Pachamama, the goddess Earth Mother. These were a few of the countless sights that I could not have otherwise pictured.

Even more impressive than simply observing the sights of the world, was immersing ourselves in remote foreign places and enjoying the experiences that unfolded.
One particularly rewarding example was when we were in Laos, taking a two-day slow boat trip down the Mekong River. We had heard about a region called Hongsa that was known for having many elephants and was off-the-beaten path. So we departed the boat, spent the day in the small riverside village drinking lao lao (the homemade local rice whiskey) with the generous locals while waiting for a taxi (a pick-up truck with seats lining the bed), and then made a bumpy two-hour odyssey over a rough track into the valley and village of Hongsa.

Making this step off the beaten path proved to be just the experience we were seeking. We rented basic bikes and rode through the dirt roads of the valley while surprising the locals with our white faces and unexpected presence. We disarmed them with the word “Hello” in their own language and they invariably returned our greeting with a hello, a laugh, and a warm greeting of their own. Riding a bike down a plain dirt path was such a simple thing to do, but in this context it was one of the most memorable days of our entire trip.

Invariably, traveling outside of one’s own country for any length of time provides a fresh and new perspective on the world. It allows you to understand how other people live as well as gain a better appreciation and new insights into life at home. More than anything, traveling for a year in predominantly third-world or less privileged countries has made me realize and appreciate just how fortunate I am to be an American. In addition to the material things we enjoy and take for granted in every day life, the quality of our government (yes, believe it or not), our freedoms, our immense open spaces, and the innovative spirit that pervades life here.

But I also have a renewed appreciation for other countries and their ways of life – the tight-knit native communities of Peru and Bolivia, the dignified mountain people of Nepal who eke out a tough living but are so proud and generous at the same time, the devout and peaceful Muslim majority in Malaysia, and the extremely laid-back citizens of Laos who take each day as it comes and do not fret about the hustle and bustle of the modern world. These ways of life are equally as distinguished and valid as our own.

It is my hope that more Americans will get a passport and venture outside our own borders to see what the rest of the world has to offer and to gain new insights into our life here at home. Rather than find a dark and sinister world, I think Americans will find that there is a world full of optimism and hope. If they venture out, they will find a world full of people that can learn from us and from whom we can learn. This broader and deeper perspective of the world will guide us to make more informed and thoughtful decisions about our role in it.

One last theme that was integral to our trip was the idea of living simply and humbly. Less is more is what we kept telling ourselves. Traveling for an entire year with only the things that can fit into one full-sized backpack will challenge your perception about what is a want and what is a need. Even with so few things in our possession, I rarely found myself wanting for material things. Life is really much more about what you do and see and taste and smell than what you have. I plan to carry that newfound appreciation for less materialism back with me to my future here at home. I also hope that our simple and humble travels have inspired our friends and families and maybe even some of you readers out there to question how much we really need to live full and happy lives.

In the end, this trip around the world has been nothing less than a dream come true. It will stay with me for the rest of my days and provide a lifetime of wonderful memories. It will color my perspective of the world and its history, religions, cultures, and peoples. It has reinforced my view that the natural world is sacred and unsurpassed in its majesty. And as much as anything else, it has made me thankful. I challenge you to go out and find an adventure of your own and make that dream come true. You will be richly rewarded.

PHOTOS

Photo #1 – The sun sets on our trip
Photo #2 – Back home with family – Drew’s family
Photo #3 – Erin’s family