This is the question that everyone over thirty years old eventually asks me when they learn I'm going backpacking in Europe solo. They are then astonished to find out my parents are supportive. As if I would be so apt to jet-set around the world if my parents adamantly opposed it!
Though honestly, I too was surprised at how well they took the news that their oldest child was planning on quitting her very good job and flying to the other side of the world for as yet to be determined length of time.
Here are the factors that I think kept them from going off the deep end.
- God. Not like He reached down and miraculously kept them from freaking out on me, but their strong belief in Him allows them to trust that He will keep me safe and use this as part of His plan for my life.
- It wasn't a shock. I think I was nine the first time I told my mom I wanted to go to China. This was in the early 1990s. The cold war was barely over and I wanted to go behind the bamboo curtain. In high school my plan was to be martyred in China. At least my current plans don't involve me dying.
- I'm responsible. Granted my plan is still somewhere between a sketch on a bar napkin and a blueprint, but my past speaks for itself. I've done crazy things before and have always come out on the other side better for it.
- This is not my first time out of the country. Nor is it my first time wandering off solo in an unfamiliar place. My sister and I got stranded in the middle of nowhere when we missed our boat in Australia. I went for a walk in New Orleans by myself and accidentally wound up in the wrong area and with the biggest blister ever overtaking my entire pinky toe. We got caught in the middle of a flash flood in South Africa. I used to run and ride my bike through what was apparently the "bad part" of Gainesville, and right past the alligator reserve...unknown to me. You learn how to fix stuff.
So maybe you'd like to prepare your own parents/spouse/over-protective sibling/almost-stalker. Here's my advice.
- Call in reinforcements. Find whatever or whomever it is that they trust. That can be God and the promises in the Bible, or AAA's approval of a location, or an expert at a place like REI.
- Ease into it. Start talking about how someone you know went to India on vacation, and "isn't that crazy but so cool!?" Talk about places you'd like to see. Maybe go on a weekend trip by yourself to somewhere a little closer to home (I'm thinking LA, NYC for Americans). Don't just call up one day and be like "I know I've never left the state of Kentucky before but I just bought tickets to Iceland!" Which leads us to...
- Prove yourself. Research travel insurance. Save money for the trip. Register with your embassy (Americans: Smart Traveler). Talk to your doctor and start getting vaccinated against all those diseases your mom is sure you are going to get, like Yellow Fever and Ebola (just kidding, there's no vaccine for that, just avoid anyone who's bleeding from their eyeballs).
- Get your feet wet. I don't recommend winging your very first trip out of the country. Go with a group, or at least a friend who has been overseas before. No amount of Google can prepare you for being completely alone surrounded by strangers, nothing looks familiar at all, and an official you can barely understand is standing in front of you asking if you have anything to declare while all these signs threaten prison and fines for umpteen different infractions, some of which don't even make sense. Granted I find all of that exhilarating and maybe you do too, but trust me, use training wheels the first time. Regardless of how much padding you wear, if you take off down a mountain on a bike without knowing how to ride it, you are going to get hurt.
Now, no one tell my mom what Pamplona is famous for.... CHEESE MOM, IT'S CHEESE, I SWEAR
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