Zanzibar Tanzania

“Ahh you are so lucky to be living out your dream”… I can’t tell you how many times I have heard this. I know it is a general comment about having the freedom to travel, to see and do anything I want, but luck isn’t necessarily the biggest ingredient of it. It didn’t happen overnight. I’ve taught special education for the last 15 years, while doing dog sitting, house sitting, photographing portraits, weddings, working for the newspaper, and hustling in many ways to have the opportunity to travel. Literally on this trip I got the notice that I had finally paid off my student loans (which I started paying on in 2006). And that put a huge smile on my face.

Travel wasn’t always a passion of mine. Until four years ago the only places I had been outside of the USA was to our friendly neighbors to the north (Canada), a week long chaperone trip of a Spanish class to Peru (2019), and a week vacation with friends in Aruba (2015). That is it. I was 35 years old and had been to 3 total countries. Before taking a road trip out west with Matt Shiffler in 2015, I had barely been west of the Mississippi River (just 10 years ago). 

What happened you might ask to provoke such a change? Most of you that know me, know I grew up in a small town in rural Ohio, and most of my life was focused around sports (playing, coaching, and watching). As I gracefully age and earn this gray haired salt and pepper wisdom, I began to listen to myself and learned through discovery about the things in life that made me happy. It’s no secret, I love the mountains. Then on only a few short weeks’ notice, I bought a one way ticket to Paris and spent the summer hiking over 500 miles across Spain on the Camino de Santiago. Meeting like minded people and somehow things just clicked. Travel was now a priority and in my blood. An addiction some would even say.

Through some hard work and a steady amount of purposeful choices, I am truly blessed to have the opportunity to see the world. It does come with some sacrifices along the way, the biggest being I am away from the family and friends I love. Secondly, I did take a pretty substantial risk giving up my securities in the teaching world with stepping away from teaching right now in my career. I drive a 2015 Subaru Outback with almost 200,000 miles on it that also paid off (and I love my Subaru). I rented a studio apartment and had a roommate till almost 40 years of age. I’ve never owned a home. I actually sold most of my belongings before leaving on this trip. I still have jeans and clothes I purchased in my 20’s, and my hobbies are running (which is mostly free) or photography or woodworking (which generate a little money each year to upgrade equipment and keep getting better). I made the conscious choice to move back east (where cost of living is much less and teaching salary was comparable) during Covid and leave the Teton mountains life that I very much enjoyed in order to be able to afford to travel internationally.

This has been my designed path and choices all along. It does feel empowering and fortunate to be able to set out a plan and execute it to essentially live out my dreams. I love sharing my travels, never as a “look at me I get to do these amazing things” (I am definitely not an influencer by any means) but more as a way for others to see the beauty in this world and maybe inspire someone to take just that one trip they have been wanting to. Or just live vicariously through me. I know my lifestyle is not the typical path many took and that’s okay.

And that is how I ended up here… on the beautiful island of Zanzibar in Africa. I made a commitment to myself to see places that challenge my way of thinking and get me to see the world differently. Often the United States struggles with our own history, with racism and slavery, and cultural differences. I could have spent the entire week just sitting on a beach working on my tan. Instead, I spent three days learning about places like Stone Town and the Old Slave Market where one of the biggest slave trades happened in the world.

I went and sat in the underground cells where 30-40 men would sit in one room in darkness, where the water from the ocean came up and drowned them depending on the tide. Where they were tied to the whipping post to see how strong they were so they would be sold for more money. Places filled with history and overcoming their past are hope for our future. It is a humbling experience to sit and listen to these stories and see the remnants of the past and how they impact today.

The other half of my time in Zanzibar was spent in the small beach town of Paje with serene ocean views, relaxing, watching sunrises and sunsets, playing soccer on the beach with the locals and getting massages. It’s what you would think about as a dreamy beach vacation (not Florida). There was kite surfing everywhere. The water was amazingly blue and clean. The sand white and soft. And the draft beer was 2 euro for local beer (Mt. Kilimanjaro – “if you can’t climb it, drink it”).

The staff were incredibly kind, funny, and hard working. One server went by the name “wi-fi” because he was everywhere. He would tell jokes and entertain and even handed out wifi passwords. Other staff like Dory would serve us breakfast, lunch and dinner. They literally worked 6 days a week non stop and seemed to be happy. A few late nights of drinking led to interesting conversations about just how stuck they were. 

Most Tanzanians have never left their own country. Their own government makes it that way. They need to prove that they have the equivalent to $3000 in their bank account (impossible working at a resort serving drinks) and fill out extensive paperwork. Our guide Allan also told us of a story where he had tickets to a big soccer match in England that he had already paid for and they had denied his visa because they thought he was trying to sneak his way into England and not go back to Africa. A man who owns his own successful guiding company was denied entry into a country (the same country that colonized Tanzania in the past) just to go to a soccer match.

In that sense, I am lucky beyond a doubt. Most places in the world will let me enter the country (even if the US isn’t seen as a great place for numerous reasons) we still can enter. Many of the countries I have visited are relying on the booming industry of tourism which brings in money and increases the cost of living but doesn’t increase their own pay. Albania grew up too fast. My haircut today, the barber himself talked about cost going up 300% in the last few years but his pay stays the same in Croatia. Many cities in Europe have free college education and the kids are still living at home in order to afford living until they are 30 years old. Coming to Croatia with US dollars, yes it seems “cheap” but to the people who work there, it feels very similar to the challenges faced in the US today with everything becoming more expensive.

I could have very easily taken the money I had saved for this trip and put it towards owning a house, or investing it in stocks or bought a car or started a business or whatever. I chose to use it on experiences. No matter what religion you might be or your views of politics or life in general. As far as I know, you can’t take anything with you when you die nor do I know when I will die. I want these eyes to remember the feeling of first seeing the Sahara Desert and feeling the heat while riding a camel across it, to stand on top of a mountain in the alps with my legs pounding while watching sunrise above the clouds, to be face to face with a majestic lion locking eyes and hearing their powerful roar, or seeing the northern lights as they glow so bright you can’t describe in words what you are seeing. For the price of a week in Disney World, you can also spend multiple weeks in Africa going or exploring the coast of Croatia or whatever you can dream of. How to travel on a budget is a topic for another time though as it really depends on your comfort zone. 

My point being…. anyone can travel and live out a dream, especially to see new places. What you don’t see is the months and months of planning and the mindset that while traveling, there will obviously be struggles. Like figuring out transportation, where to stay, getting sick, trying not to get scammed, navigating language barriers, converting currency, figuring out visa requirements, not breaking social and cultural customs, staying healthy/medical issues, and so much more. On Instagram you only get to see the 1% of greatest moments. This blog is more of the real life between those moments and I’m excited for those who continue to follow my journey. 

I hope that as I share little bits of my journey that in some way it does inspire those to enjoy the beauty of things, maybe see a new culture or be curious or open minded about something new, but most of all that you also can live out whatever your dream is. Traveling is like being a kid again as each day is new and you just try your best to figure it out. Some days you completely fail… three days in a row in Croatia I tried to go on a hike that I never ended up finding where it started but then getting lost ultimately led to finding Croatia’s biggest cave, an amazing secret beaches only locals hang out at,  and a different hike that turned out to be even better (stay tuned for full Croatia post soon). My perspective changes with each passing day and new experiences and I do feel lucky I get to share my journey.