New York, New York

At 3:45 this afternoon my flight leaves for the big city. The last 2 times I was there, I was concerned about being a tourist. Stayed in a hotel, visited the big sites, wandered around Time Square, saw broadway shows, shopped, took lots of pictures, etc.

This time will be a little different. I've traveled a lot in my short life and enjoyed every bit of it. But I've discovered that being a tourist is not the way to travel. Most of my favorite travelling memories have nothing to do with seeing the sites, being in famous places, eating in nice restaurants. Here are just a few...

Sitting in a hostel in the Manarola, Cinque Terre, Italy. Playing cards with my friends and some other travelling strangers. Hearing about another girl's experience working for a year with a poor orphanage in Mexico. Talking to a 50 year old woman who was fulfilling her dream of seeing the world, all by herself.

Going to the home of a family in Dundee, Scotland. Seeing their family and how excited they were to have us in their home. Eating dinner with them, eating an amazing birthday cake she made, and later that night singing praises to our God together.

Sitting next to my husband atop the roof of a hostel in London, watching the moon and listening to the people still out late into the night.

At a gelato shop in Vienna, Austria with my friend Jolly, a refugee from Nigeria. Listeining to his stories from his home country, and sharing a part of his life.

On the U-bahn in Vienna, sitting next to a little girl of about 5 named Michelle. I didn't speak much German and she didn't speak any English. But she was teaching my husband and I German from a magazine and shaking her head at us when we couldn't get it right.

In Limon, Costa Rica on my birthday. One the porch of a sweet African-Caribbean woman's humble apartment, drinking some sweet drink and rocking in rocking chairs with some friends and her grandchildren. She came out later with some gifts for me that she'd found in her house. A small stuffed bunny and two shirts. "If you were home and it was your birthday, you'd get presents. Well I want you to feel at home and I want you to have presents," she told me with a proud smile.

Riding bikes in Rivas, Nicaragua, down a muddy dirt road to a taco stand late one night. I was the only one who had my own "bici"; everyone else had two on theirs. We got our tacos and rode home under an incredibly star-lit sky, surrounded by trees and forests like I've rarely seen.

Sewing ribbons to honor kids at graduation by candlelight on a small island in Panama with people of the Kuna Indians. The rain started to pour and we danced in the pouring rain, soaked to the bone, hearing the waves crash on the shore, and having no light whatsoever to see where we were.

Being woken up to Christmas music in the middle of the night from outside the grass hut that I was staying in on the same island, Ailigani. Getting up to realize we were celebrating Mother's Day by waking all the mothers up around the island and singing to them.

Talking to an old man in Scotland who shared his life's story with us for about an hour. He knew everyone that walked by and introduced us, then continued his story. Sweet old man. :)

Playing with my little friend, Sole, a 10-year old refugee from Paraguay, in Vienna. She didn't speak much German so she couldn't talk to the other kids very well, but we both spoke Spanish. So we became good friends.

Meeting a French woman in Vienna who was looking for a few places in the city. She asked me for directions, so I ended up showing her around Vienna. We had a great time and parted as if we were old friends.

Teaching English to some young girls in La Carpio, Costa Rica. Most of them had children and they ranged from 13 - 20 years old. None had finished school, and none knew of any life besides the poor squatter community of immigrants in which they lived.

I suppose I should stop there. But I plan on making many more memories like those wherever I go. This weekend it's to Brooklyn, where I'll stay with my dear friend Jill, hopefully get to meet some of the people/kids she works with, see her side of life in New York, and maybe make some new friends along the way. Until Monday...