Just your average working mom, who happens to volunteer abroad.

Why in the world would you do this to yourself? Like you have time for a blog.

I keep asking myself if I am just not busy enough or bored with my life. This is not that at all. I just happen to love volunteering abroad and I am asked about this part of my life a lot.  Anyone who knows me would say I maintain an impossible schedule. It’s exhausting to even rattle off. If you wanted the tip top of the ice berg response to the request to “Tell us about yourself…” here is what you would get:

• I am 32 years old and from Minnesota, USA

• I am married

• I am the mother to two pretty awesome kids, ages 11 and 6

• I have been working in banking in just about every role for the last 14 years

• My current position and full-time career requires a lot of evening and weekends, as I cover community events, in addition to normal banker hours

• I am in college full time. I take accelerated, in-person classes and it kind of sucks

• I serve on a lot of community and organizational boards and committees

• I am a public speaker

• I volunteer with 3 non-profits in my home city on a regular schedule

• I take a lot of trips, as many as I possibly can, near and far

As you may have guessed, I have a problem. I can be quite the YES WOMAN. I need and thrive with a ton of variety. Time is my most valuable commodity, my greatest reward, and biggest motivator. My boss is well aware.

What could you possibly have to say that other people would give two shits about?

Meh. Who knows right? The die-hard Minnesotan in me would say, “oh no….nothing much.” However, there is this specific passion of mine that I get a lot of questions about. People I do not know will contact me and bribe me with meals, coffee, and cocktails just to ask me about this thing (for the record, I am not opposed to any kind of consumable bribery). No, I do not have some weird, unique talent. I do not do something that is new or innovative. This thing has been done for many, many moons and does not in any way make me special.

I happen to be passionate about intentional, purposeful travel. I volunteer abroad in other countries, live with a local family, eat all of the things, and createchange around issues I feel strongly about. It is not unique, it is not crazy, and there are many people who have done this far before me.

I have basically determined that the only reason why people look shocked or surprised if I mention this part of my life are the following reasons listed below. Most of the time, these are the only things people want to know. I have to warn you, these reasons are a sure fire way to piss me right off too:

1. Top of the list, undoubtedly, is that I am a mom. How could I possibly DOthis to my children?

2. I am not quite a spring chicken anymore. I am not in college, backpacking through another continent on a one-way ticket. I am 32 with a mortgage for Christ sakes.

3. I am married and go solo…but mostly, I am a married WOMAN flying solo.

4. I have a successful full-time career.

5. The trips are longer than your typical all-inclusive resort trip to Mexico.

6. I must be incredibly selfish to just leave all of my responsibilities

7. It is not safe for a woman to travel alone, especially in those kinds of countries.

8. I must have lost my damn mind

9. And lastly, my personal favorite, why would my husband ever let me do this?

While they do piss me right off, I truly enjoy squashing these for people. Volunteering abroad has changed my soul, my whole existence, the way I choose to raise my family, and the way I value things and people around me. There is no way someone could relate until they just go and do it themselves.

Before you and I go any further in this relationship, there are some caveats I must provide:

1. I am not like, “such a good person, omg!” I started doing this because it was a cheap way to travel. It didn’t turn into a love affair until I had a taste.

2. I am not an expert on anything, except nachos and balancing checkbooks.

3. I am told on a regular basis that I am exceptionally weird, not for volunteering abroad. I just am actually a fucking odd person in actual life. I am unapologetic about this and I prefer to surround myself with weirdos because it makes the mundane better.

4. My sense of humor tends to be self-deprocating. This isn’t a method of fishing for attention or people to say unrealistic complementary things from you. I know there are people on the intraweb that thrive on that and this just is not that. I just happen to love laughing at myself and I hope you can laugh at me too. My real friends (you know who you are) absolutely love making fun of me and I believe everyone needs legit people like that to keep their heads attached.

5. This isn’t going to be all, “La-la-la. Look at this beautiful waterfall, on my perfect trip, on this perfect hair day.” If you want that, there are plenty of Insta-Influencers who will show you filtered photos of hiccup-free fake worlds. If you have ever taken a trip, you know the airline sucked on the day that you also like REALLY needed to poop on a 14 hour flight, where they lost your luggage and the taxi cab driver straight up hussled you. Obviously, most days are like that but I think those days make better stories. If you want real experiences and you aren’t easily offended, this is the spot for you.
6. Sometimes I WILL filter my photos because I am a god-damn adult and maybe you don’t always need to know how big my raging pimple was that day. I know when I have touched something up, you will too because I suck at it, so let’s agree that no one needs to be Captain Jerk Obvious.
7. I have spent my entire working career on not selling people things they do not need and I do not believe in. You will not find that here. If I mention a product that was helpful on a trip, or an awesome hostel, it’s because it was actually awesome.

So what am I going to talk about next?

I want to answer all of the questions listed above that people just love to ask unadulterated. A couple of those are biggies that come up every single time. The reason why I want to answer these is because people should know it is possible for them to maintain a family, a job, a marriage, a ton of other crap and still have these experiences.

Also, just because you aren’t 19 without a care in the world does not mean you moment has passed. You can totally do this and I swear, you will be so thankful you did. So please, pop back in bit while I try to explain my mindset on these things.