oneworld Explorer

So far, every person I’ve talked to about the trip has had some immediate and important concern spring to mind. Some of the reasons have included – What about your jobs? What about the kids? What are you going to eat? These certainly are all valid questions. But, for me, the biggest concern about the trip has been the air travel component. In my initial research I was seeing fares of $5,000 or more more a limited number of stops. Tonight though, I happened upon an “alliance” called oneworld that has some pretty good options. I was able to create an itinerary with 16 stops on 5 continents for the base price of $4,650. Yes, that is still pricey, but I was able to add some really interesting and somewhat out of the way places that I had previously thought were out of the question like Inverness, Hong Kong, Philippines, Ayers Rock, Easter Island and the Falkland Islands. That got me excited and more willing to shell out the big bucks for one of these fancy around the world fares. I was able to save my itinerary which I believe is aptly named “The First of Many Itinerary”.

Missionary visits

After Sunday service this morning, Heather had the great idea of tying in some visits to our church missionaries around the world perhaps in China and/or the Philippines. She thought that this would give the trip additional meaning and I would agree. Although it may may logistics a bit more challenging I think it would be worth it. As I have have read in some other places, one of the challenges of seeing the world is confronting the kind of living standard that we here in the US enjoy and take for granted. Getting personally involved through volunteer work might be just the way to help us make some sense out of the experience.