Dream #4 - Travel

Ok, I don’t know if you guys know me – but I LOVE to travel. I got bit with the Travel Bug when I was 15 and my mom took me to Thailand. Maybe its in my blood and that mission trip triggered something inside of me? I’m what you would call a European “Mut” haha… but I prefer Heins 57. J My mom’s family immigrated here a LONG time ago from Germany, Norway, Sweeden and we think that somewhere along the way there is some French in there? My dad came here to the USA when he was in college from Iceland. So I have my citizenship there as well as here in America, and am one of the few Icelandic people. Go me! I’m very proud of both sides of my heritage and I’m looking forward to my many travels over to Scandinavia to explore my roots and the cultures that blended to make up me.

I am nowhere near close to having seen all the places and things that I want – but I’m also not a stranger to traveling. Before I was 2 my parents had taken me to Iceland twice (not that I remember it all that well J ) but being on planes and sitting in cars for long periods of time isn’t foreign. In the 6^th grade my class raised money to go to Canada, that was awesome! I’m looking forward to going back. My junior year, my awesome cousin Whitney graduated from high school and took me on a Mexican cruise.

The trips that had the biggest impact on my travel experience though are those to Thailand. Like I said I went in 2002, when my great uncle was killed – he and my Aunt Jean had spent 17 years of their lives, raised their 4 sons there in Thailand as missionaries. What was meant to be a 50^th wedding celebration for them turned into a very different experience. My great-uncle died less than 2 months before the trip; it became a mission trip and my mom decided that we would go to spend time with and support our family. The trip changed my life.

Ignore the 15 year old me. Haha

In 2004 we went back to finish the church that was dedicated to my uncle.

Over 100 people went on that mission trip, Charlie and I started dating there, Tim and my sister went with us this time – all reasons why this place has a lot of meaning to my family.

It is my favorite place. I love the smells of the food – not the city… I love the people, I love the all night train rides through the jungles, I love looking out over rice patties, I love mangosteens,

I love fresh fruit, I love the night market, I love the beach, I love Thai boxing and elephant rides. Ugh… It hurts my heart to be away, and I won’t go back for a few more years.

This last summer I was able to go back to Thailand – 4 years later. Being older made a lot of difference in my experience. I was able to explore more, I felt more confident being a 21 year old vs. a 17 year old. I tried speaking more Thai, actually got to go see Thai boxing, went zip-lining through the jungle, just trusted my own capabilities more.

(You can read more about this last Thailand trip in the blog postings from last summer)

Also last summer (before going to Thailand) Charlie and I FINALLY got to go to Europe! I’ve been wanting to go to France since I was 5 when my neighbor Amy went to the Adventist school there, and she brought me chocolate coins J I really wanted to learn French before going, and being fluent in the language has been something high on my bucket list for years. When I met Charlie he was finishing up 5 years of private French lessons and IS fluent, so I took the first two years of college to take classes.

I planned out 5 weeks of Europe trekking to make up for the year we had been planning, and last summer we went, Ireland first,

then Scotland,

England

and then 3 weeks in France.

It was heaven. I didn’t want to come home. I could live out of my suitcase forever. Ok, that’s an exaggeration – I could live there, and travel all over the place very easily. J

I’ve lost a lot of my French, although I could understand everything around me and read, I struggled to speak it. I can’t even begin to express my frustration. I fully believe that trying our hardest to respect other cultures is an important and exciting part of travel. Learning French is something is a part of my dream of travel so I had to include that. Charlie and I are going to buy the Rosetta Stone: French and work on it together. Our children will speak French in our home and hopefully other languages. We want to be well rounded and create a home where this respect and knowledge of other cultures is the norm.

Our experience in Europe last summer only strengthened my love of travel. I felt like my soul resonated in that environment – those experiences brought joy to my heart.

On my bucket list I have included a time on many of my goals to give myself some motivation. So by the time I’m 25 (2012) I will have seen all 50 states here in the USA. By the time I’m 30 (2017) I’ll have been to all of the continents. I have Alaska, Hawaii, North Dakota and the New England states north of Pennsylvania left. The continents are a harder challenge, hence the longer time to complete that goal: I have North America, Europe and Asia checked off and only have South America, Africa, Australia and somehow Antarctica left.

Through the Mona Vie business I’ll get Hawaii checked off next summer from our Diamond Run trip to Maui (WOOT!), as well as going to Brazil (South America) next summer to work on the More Project. Check out our blog to read more about this AWESOME opportunity (post will be up tomorrow, Wednesday) at www.ckshealth.blogspot.com I’m really excited about going to work in Brazil! Charlie’s and my relationship started on a trip to give to others and work on bettering their lives – what better than a business to work on together than one that focuses so heavily on doing just this.

I don’t know what else to say… I want to go everywhere. See everything. Meet all kinds of people. Love them. Help them. Learn from them. Share with them.

That’s all.

I want to go to there.