Living dangerously in a safe world

Danger, adventure, extreme, excitement – not words that people would use to describe me.  My life is safe.  I like routine.  My strengths are in numbers, money, my analytical skills, and the details.  I don’t like to venture outside the box too much and like to live in a safe world.

Ironic that I like to travel huh?  When I travel, I am outside of my routine.  Places and cultures challenge my comfort level far away from home.  My security blanket is taken away and I can’t help but be stretched.  I am not the ideal personality you think of when you think of someone who loves to travel.  So why is it that someone like me is so passionate about traveling?

I like to think of it as God’s sense of humor.  “I’ll take this man I create who gets a degree in accounting, works in IT, is an introvert, likes numbers and budgets, and is extremely analytical, and give him a passion for traveling which will turn his world upside-down.”  Yeah, that’s me.  It doesn’t make much sense and I didn’t plan it that way.  But it’s really me.

I guess it all started many years ago.  As a kid, I traveled with my parents and saw nearly every state on the east coast.  We went to the beach, watched a number of baseball games, visited the Baseball Hall of Fame, and saw many great places in this country.  Yet nothing about those trips inspired me to travel and we never went out of the country.  Until I got to college, I had only been on an airplane one time.

When I was in college, I went with a group to the country of Estonia.  I am not sure what inspired me to go but I just felt that tug and followed it.  When I got there, I began learning the language, talking to the translators, becoming absorbed in the country.  Indeed, a passion was stirred in me that I never knew I had.  And I wasn’t the only one who noticed it.

As part of our trip, we were working with a guy that lived over there and worked with an organization that we were helping.  Out of the 40 people there, he noticed something in me and a friend of mine and wanted to talk.  On our last day he sat us down and talked to us about the passion and interest that we took in being there that he didn’t see in anyone else.  He even asked us to come back and work with him for a year.  While the timing wasn’t right for me, it was  just the beginning of a greater desire to travel.

Over the years, that desire has been played out in various roles – job hunting to live overseas, mission worker, writer, and now blogger.  Since that first trip to Estonia in 1995, not a year has gone by where I have not flow on a plane.  I have now been to 34 states and 18 countries.  Yet many people would be amazed, and even bored, with my life at home.

At home, I like my routines.  I am very much a home body who just likes to stay at home with my family.  If we do go out, I like to eat the same foods at the same places every time.  I love playing with my kids, doing things in the yard or garden, reading books, going to school, or going for a run.  I like simplicity, routine, and the comforts of home.  I live life carefully, with as little chaos as possible.

Yet, inside of me, the passion stirs.  And I feed the flames.  The TV shows or sporting events I watch are mainly outside of the US.  There is a deep longing to engage in cultures, people, and places that are different from my own.  My personality works well in certain aspects of travel as I love finding good deals, want to save money, and value great experiences while spending as little as possible.  It’s what makes me a budget traveler.

Travel is the fire inside of me that gives me life.  Whether I am traveling, reading about traveling, or writing about it, it gives me fulfillment and joy.  This isn’t to say I am the best traveler.  It is the dichotomy of introverted, analytical, and safe personality and passionate traveler that can lead to conflict.  It’s why I tend to learn a lot about myself when I travel.

There are many things I want to pass down to my kids – being kind, responsible, and loving.  Realizing that relationships with people are more important that toys, gadgets, or stuff.  Giving them my time, love, the good and the bad, and show them that life is about each other.  However, I want travel to be a part of that too.

I don’t know how travel will play out in my life.  For someone like me, traveling may not seem to fit my lifestyle.  Yet here I am.  Living dangerously in a safe world.  It doesn’t make much sense sometimes but welcome to the life I live.

What is your travel style like?  Is there a difference in the way you travel and the way you live at home?