In Transit. Again.

Two years ago, when I boarded the ship MV Explorer and sailed around the world on Semester at Sea, I fell in love with a phrase I had heard only rarely before: "In Transit."

Over the course of those 3-and-a-half months, I had the good fortune of visiting 14 countries by ship. As you may (or may not) imagine, I became quite adept at filling out customs and immigrations forms required by each and every country we entered. I had every number, from my passport number to my expiration date memorized; I could fill these forms out in my sleep. Still, my favorite part of each form was usually found near the bottom, under a heading that generally read "Purpose of Visit." Below this heading listed the various reasons one might find themselves in, say, Morocco, or Thailand. Always at the bottom of the list, somewhere south of "Tourism" was a single phrase I grew to love: "In Transit."

I would always check off this box with pride. To me, it represented the continuous and circular nature of my journey around the globe. No matter how far into the semester I got, every time I saw this phrase I was reminded that my current destination was not final, I was still moving, I was still learning, I was still alive. It is a powerful thing, to be able to say that you have not arrived at your destination, but instead keep moving on to your next stop, to your next destination. Because of these two little words, I began to view travel in general as a circle of destinations, one in which I arrived only to depart again, one in which I returned home only fleetingly, eyes set on the horizon of my next great adventure. Since my experience on SAS, I have never truly arrived at any one destination, that would be too final for me. Instead, I have revelled in the excitement of continuously moving, of living a life In Transit.

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And here we are! Finally, after months of planning, tomorrow I head out to an amazing new destination with a new purpose. I will fly from Atlanta to Miami, FL and then catch the red-eye flight to Lima, Peru and then connect to my home for the next month: Cuzco, Peru! In Cuzco, I will be volunteering in a small medical clinic that serves locals. Over the course of the next 4 weeks, I hope to learn first hand about the unique Peruvian culture and history (and food!) that I have heard so much about. Having spent virtually no time in South America before, I could not be more excited to get going!

So come along with me!! Starting tomorrow I'll be updating this blog more or less daily and will be able to reply to any comments posted to the blog!

Day one starts tomorrow!