How I choose the countries where I volunteer abroad
The good thing about never traveling with my family growing up is that I have a ton of options if I want to go somewhere new now. I really had not been anywhere. I grew up in Minnesota, the Midwest of the United States. My parents split when I had just finished 9thgrade in school and my mother moved us to Arizona, against my will. Arizona was very different and some things about it were cool, but ultimately, when I had the choice, I came back to Minnesota. It is a great place to raise a family.
When I go to restaurants, I have to get something new. When I travel, I need to see something new and have new experiences. I am just built that way. I have a hard time dealing with people who get stuck. Stuck on food, places, people, or sites. I understand loving somewhere you went and wishing to go back, but for me, that would only be to explore and see more in that place. So the great news about going nowhere, is now there are a ton of places I have not been.
I feel this pressure that seems to root at my core being around travel. My best friend just told me about a story where a guy at his boat marina went to wash his boat one Sunday. He slipped, cracked his head as he fell and rolled into the river. Even though people saw it happened, they couldn’t find his body for 45 minutes and he died. Dude was WASHING HIS BOAT ON A SUNDAY. If that doesn’t make you feel stressed that we are running out of time, I do not know what would.
I also happen to have an auto-immune disease that makes me fear losing mobility younger than I should. Because of this, I am not going to wait until retirement to travel and see the world. I may not be able to by then. Plus, I would rather do it while I am still stupid enough to go naively into situations unknown or get on a propeller plane that looks sketchy, zipline over a freeway. I might be too smart for that stuff then.
Why those places?
The first time I went on an actual vacation, I bought it myself and it was to Miami. It was exactly what you would imagine. I went with two guy friends, we beached, ate, and drank way too damn much. We had some pretty funny stories from that trip. When I met my husband, he took me to Cancun, his go-to vaca spot. Don’t get me wrong, Cancun was great but there are only so many drink, eat, beach days you can have and it wasn’t exciting enough for me….just a lot of laying around. We did actually have our destination wedding there later, that is a WHOLE other blog post.
Croatia was the first DIG IN, do what locals do and really experience shit kind of trip I went on and I was hooked like a junkie in my old hood. Actually, it was a last minute recommendation by a travel agent. I was getting exhausted with options and asked her to just lay 3 legit options down for us. Croatia was one and we were super confused. Then when we started researching, it was a no brainer. Go to Croatia. Just go now actually.
We spent a lot of time with local people, in their homes and on their vineyards. We had structured things planned until about 3PM each day and then we toodled around ourselves. We went to a couple of overly touristy spots but mostly spent time in behind the scenes areas. The people were no nice in those areas and were excited to meet Americans. Our layover was in Rome, Italy so we extended that on our way back so we could check out the city.
When I was ready to do my first big volunteer abroad mission was to Thailand. My theory was that I would go somewhere that seemed “difficult for me to get to.” Now that seems to silly but before, I couldn’t just up and go to Asia. That would never happen right? It’s impossible. I mean, now I know that totally is not true.However, at the time, it just seemed more like the likelihood of me planning a trip to Jupiter on my own. So I figured if I was going to go somewhere with a volunteer organization, then I had access to places that would be more difficult to go and I would go to the furthest destination. On a globe, Thailand is that for Minnesotans. Thailand scared the shit out of me. I am not sure why. I thought it would be crazy, dangerous, and completely insane. I was going through things in my personal life that made me feel like I should just be a little reckless.
It turns out that Thailand was not dangerous or reckless. It was peaceful, beautiful, and full of the nicest people. So, that attempt failed. However, I got a lot of things I personally needed to “fill my cup,” from this trip. I needed to find my own identity again. Sometimes, in motherhood and corporate careers, marriage, and obligations you can lose that. It was a great way for me to be alone and feel like I was doing something that I had control over. At the same time, I was giving back and doing some powerful work that was changing who I was forever. I mean, you aren’t in the moment thinking that but you realize it after the fact.
Where Next?
I am happy to announce that the next destination has been pinned down: Tanzania! There were things I loved about Thailand as a destination that I wanted to be sure my next spot offered. I loved being engrossed in a culture where the people are peaceful by nature and live a slower lifestyle. I also loved that Thailand offered so many climates and scenery types in one country. I felt like I didn’t get to see and do everything on my list in Thailand and I wanted to be sure the next place would offer way too much as well. Tanzania is perfect because the people are peaceful. They are known for being very nice and helpful, giving and loving. We could all use that inspiration as a reminder.
As for climate in Tanzania, there is Arusha, where I will be stationed for my volunteer project. It is at the feet of Kilimanjaro. There are beautiful mountains all around. The city itself is bustling and busy and it has the most gorgeous view all around. Then of course, there is Dar es Salaam, right on the coast of the Indian Ocean. The Island of Zanzibar is right off of this area. If you have not googled a picture of Zanzibar, I am going to give you a few seconds here to quickly just do that and return. Ready? _________________________________________________________
Okay we are back. Zanzibar….am I right? Then the beautiful Serengeti with all of the Big 5 and hundreds of other natural species like lions, leopards, rhinos elephants and buffalos. There are giraffes and just like one million other things to see on a safari. This is not your average zoo. I have been watching documentaries about people taking this trek and they not only see these animals but are watching them hunt…and bang! So much banging. Did you know that during mating season for lions, they get after it 20-40 times per day?? Yes, you heard that right. “You and me baby ain’t nothing but mammals, so lets….”
Tanzania is going to be so amazing. I have to be the only person in Minnesota praying to summer to end and September 2018 to come. Usually I go it alone, but you can come on this one too. I need volunteers for this new project. People can come 2, 3 or 4 weeks!
YOLO. When else will you ever do this shit? Now. Now is the time, before we are old and crabby and know better.Vol,l
