….but not the back to school kind.

the kind of sack that you put on your back, jump onto a plane and touch down on new soil – ready to explore.  ready to learn.  ready to adventure.

its funny to think that it took me 28 years to buy an actual, legitimate backpack.  whiling walking the katmandu shop with the sales clerk (who was similar in age but a globetrotter a couple of times over) i was silently ashamed that to date i had only traveled canada, a few stops in the states, spain and a few hotspots in australia. 

where did the time go?  how has 10 years passed since graduating high school and yet i was still so sheltered from the big wide world that is out there. 

i was brought back to reality when the clerk asked me where i was going and when i was leaving.  i told him about my ambitious itinerary and he said, “wow – 6 months?”.  and then the shock: ‘no, only 2 weeks’, I replied, “and I am leaving tomorrow.”

“shouldn’t you go home and pack?”

and with that i thanked him for his help, paid for my $350 backpack and raced home, eager to fill up my sack and begin my own trek as an aspiring globetrotter.

i am anxious begin my travels.  australia has opened up my eyes to the fact that our world is indeed without boundaries.  and perhaps a ridiculous thought but this simple purchase – a backpack – has given me a new personal mandate: to travel the world over, no matter how long it takes me, so that i can really start learning how i can set my own course in learning how to help change it in return.