Dear Shane, I just love your wanderlust, please keep it up. The world is a magical place to visit/see and explore.

I am sure that as you grow you'll find a hundred way to skin the cat (sorry boy/girl cat, nothing agains you guys, just a saying and you don't need to hide.)

Don't let the nay sayers squash your dreams. Am sure life will, but you have it in you to manage and find solutions before you settle down with a family etc etc.


Plan your trips way in advance, you'll get cheaper tickets, try to do those messenger trips (I read about them but don't know much) i.e. DHL et al.

You mentioned that you wanted to do good back, how about volunteer trips, don't know if they do one week trips, but still.

Don't let the nay sayers put you down. You are young and you can do it. Don't wait until you are my age, plan it now.

And please keep us informed of all your wonderful travels.

After you finish with your military service/duties, you could do the Teach abroad, where you go to a country and teach English, then you can travel around there. My daughter has a friend from the US who really never traveled outside the LA area, and she had the wanderlust like you, once she graduated from college, she went to Australia and worked as an au-pair, it didn't work out, but she managed to get herself a job in Vietnam she taught nursery school. Came back to the US and now is in China teaching elementary school english. Throughout her time, and lots of it was wondering where she was going to sleep next, she managed and not only that she travelled a lot around south east asian.


As I said there are a hundred ways to…… (my cats will get angry with me again)

So finish your senior year and DO IT. You are much much much younger than my kids, and I made my own kids go and explore. Take it from an old mother…. GO.