Walking with Inkas: One Week to Go . . . A Dedication

Wednesday, May 17, 2006

One Week to Go . . . A Dedication

Transferred from original diary
(posted May 7, 2006)

SUMMARY:

Thanks to everybody who has supported me throughout the years, and shared in my little adventures. We're off to Peru!

FOR DETAIL LOVERS, ONLY:

Welcome to my little Peruvian documentary. I'm headed to Lima for the summer for an internship at the U.S. Embassy, complete with an official government ID, security clearance (ya know, the "if I told you I'd have to kill you" type), and a driver that's going to meet me at the airport with a sign!!!! I've always wanted one of those!

I have a lot of ideas floating around in my head about what I should expect and my roommate, a fellow world traveler by nature, had the excellent suggestion that I should write down my thoughts on the trip BEFORE I leave in the interest of creating a complete synopsis of my experience.

While I'm on the topic of inspired ideas, I'll also use this juncture (I like academic words--I just got my Bachelors two days ago!) to credit a very brilliant friend with the idea for this online diary. Now, truth be told, when he called me to propose that I blog my trip online, I was already halfway into the first sentence of this entry (I used a similar online diary program when traveling through Spain two years ago, before he knew me). But he sounded so excited and said, "I have a golden idea and you have to do it, and you have to give me the credit, all I want is the credit," with such enthusiasm, that I willingly oblige. I mean, the guy was thinking about me and how best to enhance my trip while on his own little journey through the "Crossroads of America" (Indiana), and I really can't think of a reason not to credit him with being brilliant in general. Thanks, sir!

Alright, since I'm giving thanks to people, I guess I'll throw out a general thank you to everybody who made this adventure possible. To my elementary school geography teachers who taught me names of locations I never thought I'd visit, to my high school friends who dared to dream of visiting those places with me, to the girls in college who became my travel buddies and answered with a resounding "YES" every time I said, "Let's go to _______. Right now!" (we were usually in the midst of a major study session and seriously considering dropping out of school). To the fellow travelers I've met along the way, both in my travels and back at home, and to the travelers-to-be that picked my brain and allowed me to reminisce for hours about my own experiences so that they could feel more confident about what was yet to come in their journeys.

Most of all, to my parents, who value the education of travel and have always let me go so that I can take part in a world that must seem so threatening to a parental mind. Who continuously mask their concern and worry with phrases like "You can't live life under a shell" and "The world is your oyster".

Thank you all. This journal is for you, and would not be possible without you. I love you. Vamanos a Peru!

Until the next adventure . . .