A good friend asked me today if I was nervous about my impending trip. The question makes sense, but the answer is a very definitive “no.” Trips like this⎯even the big ones⎯don’t make me anxious; excited, but not anxious.

I’ve been like this since a foundational experience at a very young age. At around 5 years old, I let my aunt and uncle drive me home (in their Ford Maverick, red with a black stripe) from my maternal grandparents’ house EARLIER than had been planned, presumably because I was feeling a bit homesick.  And I distinctly remember being in the backseat of their Ford Maverick (red with a black swath across the hood) and completely regretting the decision I had made to shorten the trip. After that, I always was the first in line to spend the weekend with either set of grandparents – each of whom lived on the outskirts of Chicago about 45 minutes from my family⎯happily packing the little blue canvas suitcase with a green paisley design. I never cut a trip short again. My maternal grandmother used to say of me: “Have suitcase, will travel!” 🧳

In my adult life, there are two experiences⎯actually make that three⎯that I think have made me comfortable being away from “home” for long stretches of time. The first was traumatic. At 18, I had never been west of the Mississippi and got on an airplane, for the first time in my life, to travel by myself to start the school year at the University of Southern California⎯literally sight unseen! Who does that?!? A kid whose parents could not afford to fly even one of them out to California to accompany him, much less to visit the school as a family prior to making the decision to go there. I visited a school or two within driving distance, and that was it. To add to the drama, my dad had left my mom  two weeks prior to my departure. Wow, that was a rough year. I made an unplanned return to Chicago for Thanksgiving, and over the break for the holidays, I was unsure I wanted to return to school. But I did, maybe influenced by that long ago decision to cut short the commitment to spend the weekend with my grandparents. In any event, I returned for that first summer, but never lived at “home” again after that.

The next two long-term travel experiences of my life were career related. I spent a 6-month and 3-month stretch working as a performer on a cruise ship 🛳️ and (six years later) an entire year traveling with a touring production of “West Side Story.” 🛩️🛩️🦈🦈 While technically perpetual movement, the former experience did not feel like constant travel, because your “home” goes with you from location to location. But the year in a touring company sure did, with stints of one week at the most and sometimes just a “one-night stand” (but not the purely recreational/fun kind 😯). You learn how to pack and unpack quite quickly when moving hotel rooms that frequently⎯and in the unfortunate event your alarm does not work and an entire tour bus of people are waiting on you, you learn to pack REALLY quickly! 🚌

But the experience that really allows me to not even be nervous about taking this trip was my 5-week trip to South America in 2015. 🌎 After 7 years of service at Lambda Legal, employees get to take a sabbatical (2 months or 1 month depending on job category), and I chose to travel in South America for half of mine. I speak no Spanish and booked most of my transportation and hotels about one week prior to needing them. Rio for Mardi Gras, Sao Paolo (Brazil), Iguazu Falls, Mendoza (Argentina), San Pedro de Atacama (Chile), hiking in Torres del Paine Nacional Parque (Patagonian Chile) 🏔️, the glacier at El Calafate (Argentina), finishing in Buenos Aires. It was absolutely fantastic! I learned that I LOVE traveling solo⎯you eat when you’re hungry, take as much time as you want when hiking, biking, or visiting a museum, and meet and engage with many more people when you are alone. And it was incredibly luxurious and free to travel without a set itinerary. When I wasn’t moving as quickly as planned after Patagonia, I just added a week to the trip. 📆

As a result, when the possibility arose of traveling for a whole year like this, I felt capable of doing it and jumped at the chance. No nerves at all really, and Scott⎯which some sources say means “the wanderer” in archaic Gaelic⎯is ready to explore the world! #NoDayBuToday