Detours and discoveries
Lessons learned on the road.
Travel, to me, is about more than ticking destinations off of a list. It’s about gaining an increasingly nuanced understanding of the world around me — one observation, one conversation, one detour at a time.
My fondness for travel kicked into high gear at a young age.
A European awakening
I spent the summers of my freshman and sophomore years of high school traveling Western Europe by rail, bike and car with a classmate whose mother lived in Paris.
The City of Light quickly became many things for me: a gateway to Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands; as well as the South of France and Italy. A classroom without walls where my mother tongue, French, blossomed. A culinary Mecca boasting a mosaic of cuisines that reflect the continent’s rich history and cultural influences.
Speaking French with increasing fluency allowed me to peel back layers of conversation I might otherwise have missed. Conversations in cafés, shops and other venues gradually revealed contemporary narratives that news outlets, travel guides and other sources aren’t equipped to provide. As geopolitical nuances of post-Cold War Europe unfolded before me, my naive American world view was reshaped into a more nuanced, globally-aware view.
Traversing Europe the way Europeans do with Europeans in tow catapulted me from a passive observer to an active participant in a broader human story. Each journey — and, especially, the many detours — became a lesson in cultural complexity. I learned to understand how borders, languages and shared histories intertwine to create the intricate tapestry of European identity.
Both summers catapulted me from adolescence into a more expansive understanding of the world. They awakened in me a profound curiosity about global interconnectedness, planting the seeds of a lifelong commitment to understanding cultures near and far.
Collegiate wonderlust
As a journalism student at Indiana University, roadtrips became a classroom on wheels and a storytelling laboratory. I transformed highway miles into column inches, academic assignments and inter-personal experiences that shaped my early adulthood.
The Deep South, the sprawling Midwest, and the Great Plains became my textbooks. My classmates and I would pile into my green Saab — fueled by youthful energy, blaring indie rock and cheap gas — and drive off to explore regions most of my peers only saw through car windows or missed entirely.
Roadtrips seems to trivial a name. These were expeditions, often involving many a flat tires, frequent stops at gas stations for directions and occasional meals at the homes of exceedingly generous people we encountered along the way.
They taught my friends and I more about the country we thought we knew than we could have learned in publications.
Coast to coast and beyond
Years later, when it came time to relocate from New York to Los Angeles, my wife and I weren’t content to simply relocate. Instead, we embarked on a seven-day drive from NYC to SoCal. Taking the northern route through the raw, untamed beauty of the Badlands and Yellowstone was a pilgrimage for us.
Once LA became my new base, it allowed me to touch every corner of the United States, save for Alaska and North Dakota, which, to this day, remain elusive.
Global horizons
International travel followed: two flights to London, Caribbean adventures and explorations into Central America and Canada.
Each destination was a world unto itself, offering glimpses into cultures, cuisines and human experiences vastly different from my own.
The pandemic may have temporarily grounded my more ambitious plans to explore Asia and Africa, but it didn't extinguish my desires to visit both.
Why I travel
Since I first crossed the pond, travel has been all about stepping outside my comfort zone — challenging preconceptions, savoring spicy cuisines that make my taste buds dance, and connecting with people whose worldviews don’t mirror mine.
My ultimate travel dream? To set foot on the pristine, otherworldly landscapes of Antarctica — with my wife and two daughters as my fellow adventurers.
Travel, I've learned, is less about the destinations and more about the transformations they spark within us. It's about becoming a perpetual student of the world, humble enough to listen, curious enough to explore, and open enough to be changed.
My journey continues, one horizon at a time.