On the Horizon

One of my closest friends Hannah and I set a somewhat lofty goal for ourselves earlier this year.  50 states and 50 countries by the time we're 50.

Of course then, after we'd agreed upon said goal, we immediately sat down to make our respective lists, to tally up where we'd already been and where our current travel "stats" stood.  She and I have a ways to go, naturally, but we've also got a strong list right out of the gates.

In just a few days we will both add another country (and for me, a continent!) to our list.  Morocco.

2013, my dear and lovely year, you have been such a gem to me already - blessing me with good fortune and luck...and plenty of travel.  I thought my international "to get to" list couldn't be topped this year after my June trip to Australia...but look at that.  With a passport at the ready, I am off again to another part of the world I can't even completely picture, one I've only imagined in my mind. 

Hannah and I are traveling with a non-profit group, The Colored Pencil Project.  If you've yet to hear me talk about this group dedicated to bringing art supplies to children in underdeveloped countries head on over to our website and check it out.  It's an organization that Hannah founded six years ago, one I've been on the board of for the past three.  This is a different sort of trip for me; unlike one I've ever taken.  Instead of pouring over guidebooks, making 'must-see' lists and booking hotels, I have been working on schedules and counting boxes of donated colored pencils, weighing suitcases over and over again to make sure we don't go over the maximum load...and that we also don't let an ounce go to waste.  My living room is currently littered with piles of pencils, I'll be traveling with just over 500 boxes of them; Hannah will bring the rest.  She and I will meet in Brussels where we'll connect on our flight to Marrakesh with plans to reach approximately 1,250 children at various schools, orphanages, and youth centers in ten days.  For the first time in my adult fashion-loving life, I'm planning and packing outfits not based on an aesthetics but strictly on functionality.  How many days will I be able to wear that long gray skirt or that black cotton sweater, I wonder as I take stock of my potential clothing pile, editing more and more with every glimpse over to the remaining pencil packs that I'll also need to bring along in my carry on.  Minimal make-up and toiletries will come along, no jewelry beyond the simple (Australian purchased!) studs in my ears will make the cut.

Last night, Hannah called me to run through our numbers once again, the two of us pinging stats back and forth about which boxes of which type of colored pencils fit best in which suitcases.  "Are you excited?" Hannah asked me.  "I am." I told her, though I also confessed that I'm sort of in the nervous, I have so much to get done before we leave, my brain is still very much in the USofA and current work load, arena as well.  "I'll be really excited once I check these bags and boxes of pencils and am en route," I told her.  (Hell, maybe I'll even open a guide book on the flight over.)

So this is it.  I feel, in an oddly surreal way that I'm standing on the cusp of something, that I'm on a precipice peering down into the unknown.  For as many times as one can travel to Europe or the UK or yes, even Down Under, it's all rather Westernized, right?  And now, for the first time in my life, I'm heading to some place so entirely new, vast, and different I truly, absolutely have zero idea what to expect.

Way back when I was 22, living in London, I went to a real live travel agent (remember them?) to book my flight to Norway, where I would start my backpacking adventure.  When my airline tickets arrived in the mail a few days later, they were sealed in an envelope that read "Change Your World" on the back.  I have thought about that mantra over and over throughout my life; been aware of it - of doing that - even when I actually wasn't, if that makes any sense at all.  Because with every decision, with every step I am changing my world and charting my course, my unique journey that's all my own.

So yes.  I'm standing on the edge, about to dive in, unsure of what all I will discover, learn, and appreciate in this foreign land.  And I cannot wait to find out.