crusecaptain-blog

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Flying to Scotland! Maiden voyage! Make sure you follow the fun via: Instagram: crusecaptain Happy travels!

[crusecaptain-blog]

Flying to Scotland! Maiden voyage! Make sure you follow the fun via: Instagram: crusecaptain Happy travels!

[crusecaptain-blog]

Flying to Scotland! Maiden voyage! Make sure you follow the fun via: Instagram: crusecaptain Happy travels!

[crusecaptain-blog]

Moana has given me so many beautiful ways to express things I needed to say... Here is one of them: something that I hope I can say of myself at the beginning and at the end of all my journeys.

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My List of Dreams

Today I was thinking about all the places I hope to explore on my journey. I’ll probably start out on a plane, for the most part. Maybe someday I’ll get a boat and cross the seas, wind in my hair. Maybe I’ll get a motorcycle and cruise across the countryside of Italy, like they do in the movies. Maybe I’ll climb with crampons and a pickax, grappling on hands and feet up the side of a mountain.

Or maybe all of them.

However it goes, here is a “TOP 10 LIST” of dream journeys I hope to include on my pilgrimage, in case any of you were hoping to catch a quick glimpse of where we might soon be going together,

Take a walk through my dream bucket list!

1) “The Unorthodox Whale”

A month-long internship in Sri Lanka with world-renowned marine biologist, Dr. Asha De Vos, studying the blue whale population that migrate around this region of the Indian Ocean.

2) Surf-Camp Australia

Because who wouldn’t love to learn how to surf all along the eastern coast of Australia for two weeks with other students from around the globe? To be fair, I’m petrified of the snakes in this country, but wouldn’t a snake encounter be a vlog to remember? I would do this for you all.

3) Tianmeng Shaolin Kung Fu Academy

4) Kunyu Mountain Shaolin Martial Arts Academy

After all, if you’re going to study tai chi and northern shaolin kung fu, and become the next Avatar: The Last Airbender, you may as well travel to two of the best international martial arts academies in China and learn from black-belt monks.

5) European Motorcycle Tour

Honestly, this would just be a breath of fresh air: cruising through the hills, the finest wines in the world, walking the gardens of the villa from Star Wars: Episode II (Yes, I found it. It’s called Villa del Balbianello, and you can tour it.)

6) Fire-Dancing School

Seriously, how hot would that be? (I’m so sorry for that...I’m bad with puns.)

7) Northern Lights Icelandic Bubble Tour

Every bit of what it sounds: there’s a wilderness hotel that lets you camp out in a transparent igloo to watch the aurora borealis.

8) The Swiss Alps

Some of the most famous and majestic mountains in the world. Mountains are, for me, spiritual places, and journeys among them have always been significant milestones in my life. Everest, someday?

9) Maui Sea Turtle and Cultural Expedition

Sea turtles are one of my four spirit animals—go watch a National Geographic documentary on their lifecycle and you will be blown away. Also, I have recently been struck by the cultural heritage of the Hawaiian islands, and want to learn more about their history, stories, and language.

10) Kevin Richardson Wildlife Sanctuary: The Lion Whisperer

Yes, lions are also on the spirit list, alongside sea turtles, blue whales, and eagles. But how amazing would it be to spend a summer or more working on safari in South Africa with freaking lions?

Anyway, that’s a sampling of some of the dreams I hope to chronicle on this travel blog. Follow along so that you don’t miss a moment!

Also, stay tuned for ways you can get involved in making these dreams possible...

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This is the Year I Discover the World

pil•gri•mage (pil-gruh-mij)

1. a journey, especially a long one, made to some sacred place as an act of religious devotion.

2. any long journey, especially one undertaken as a quest or for a votive purpose.

On April 1, 2017, I sent the following text to my mentor, and it was not a joke:

“So I’ve been thinking: even if I don’t get this travel trip, this year is going to be the big start of change…I am going to make 26 the year that I discover the world. #heartsetonpilgrimage”

Everyone wants to travel and experience the world. But who actually quits jobs, buys tickets, and goes? How many people are looking for answers to questions they can’t phrase, and go out into the world to find them? How many of us truly have our hearts “set on pilgrimage”?

This summer I turn 26. And I am taking a pledge, at last making a commitment, to pack a bag and begin. I will start by ticking off an item on my bucket list: having a birthday abroad, specifically in Scotland. And after that, I will begin a year of pilgrimage. There are a lot of questions I am asking, and I’ll be unpacking them on my travels.

And I invite you to come along and see.

Videos, pictures, poems, reports, musings, celebrations, stories—all of it will be the packing and unpacking of a heart set on pilgrimage. And everywhere I go, I will do these three things:

1) Learn something new.

2) Do something awesome.

3) Share someone’s story.

Come with me!