March 4

At the end of January, our group from PLU, with the help of a pre-booked tour guide, took a tour of northern Namibia, visiting four different locations in eight days. What we experienced was incredible: rich cultural experiences; beautiful natural vistas; delicious food (we fried some mushrooms from termite mounds!); and exotic animal sightings that I've only ever seen on screen or behind bars. A once-in-a-lifetime experience, truly, but it was all almost completely overshadowed by the amount of time we spent inside the car.

Seeing as we only ever stayed two nights in each place, often one of our two days was a travel day. Namibia is a big country and those travel days were anywhere between six to eight hours (with stops to see animals on the side of the road and pee). As a result, I only ever felt like I saw bits of those places. I didn't ever connect with them. We'd stop, take pictures, say wow, eat some food, and then be on our way to the next place.

Most of us, myself included, have skewed views and definitions of travel. To a lot of folks, travel still looks like what I just described, a cruise or a road trip, never spending too much time in one place, trying to see so much in so little time. Granted, it might be a more financially-responsible way to consume the world but I would argue that spending anywhere from five days to five months in a place is the best way to travel. To sit down and connect with either the people or place around you, to find your coffee shop, your snacks, your food truck that serves the best food for three American dollars. I think that's what it means to travel. The pictures and things you bring back are great but only if there are memories with them. I will do my utter best to uphold that sentiment as I continue my travels down here! I miss you all :)