Word Count 500
My family never traveled. When I was in sixth grade, I began fundraising with my soccer team for a trip to Hawaii to play in a soccer tournament. Two years and thousands of candy bars, lolly-pops, and car washes later I found myself on a plane with my team and a chaperone to the tropics of Oahu, Hawaii! I couldn’t believe that a place as beautiful as Hawaii
Did you know that a place like this existed?
existed. Its vast turquoise water, tropical landscaping, and hiking trails amongst active volcanoes were a shock to my senses. Surfing in Hawaii was the first time that my eyes competed between brilliant coral and fish while I simultaneously surfed a wave. Arriving home after a red-eye return flight, I remember the first thing that I said to my parents was, “Why didn’t you want to go to a place as wonderful as that?” Knowing that they had the financial means, this puzzled me. Their steadfast reply to any inquiry regarding travel was, “Why travel when you live in paradise?” My instant retort was, “How do you know what paradise is until you’ve have seen and sampled all that the world has to offer? How do you make an informed decision about where to spend your life if you don’t know what your options are?” These lingering questions spawned my passion for world exploration.
I did not have another opportunity to enjoy my newfound passion until I became of age and made two friends, Visa & Mastercard… I graduated high school and was working full time so that I could afford to continue what I’d been aspiring for since losing my travel virginity. I partook/ embarked on my first international expedition; and made it an easy one, to the tranquility of the Bahamas. It was here that I learned that there was indeed a place with more pristine water than that of Hawaii. In the Bahamas a minute is also 60 seconds, however, time passes much slower, and hurry is not in their vocabulary. I made traveling my favorite expense. While some of my friends bought name-brand jeans, and Gucci purses I went to Cancun… The serene Caribbean provided me the safety of solitude, and an environment so rich for self-discovery that I grew in a way that I’d never experienced before. It took a passport, a few thousand miles, and a language barrier to feel safe enough to explore in such a deep place inside myself. Not only did I learn what the world has to offer, but also what I had to offer the world.
Our planet has between 168-254 nations (depending on who is counting), five major climates, 6,912 languages (according to “Ethnologue” 15th edition), 1500 different cultures (“The Encyclopedia of World Cultures”), and immeasurable quantities of shoreline. Which place is your paradise? I have no idea where I want to spend the rest of my life. But I do know that I could happily spend the rest of my life figuring it out.
Shannon Enete
Writer / Photographer
Kansas City
www.shannonenete.wordpress.com
Filed under: Travel
