For those who don’t know, I decided to pack all skirts (ONE pair of pants) for this entire trip. Many people including teammates thought I was absolutely crazy. Was I? Maybe a little bit… However, I was determined to show the usefulness of all the things I can still do in a skirt.
I brought mainly skirts along because I knew that a lot of the cultures don’t want you showing your knees or ankles. I also knew that it was going to be hot in most of the countries (well, the first few countries…), so I packed skirts because they are practical, good for the heat, and I can layer them when it gets cold.
Here is my proof of most of the crazy things I still did even in a skirt!
China was the place of Kungfu, so why not get a bit of practice in? I did managed to take on a Kungfu master, but this was not quite in a skirt..
The gate was locked so what better way than to go over? We got yelled at for this one, but there was another time in Oman that we kept getting locked out of our house. Guess who volunteered to climb?
In India, some thought I was crazy, but why not ride a bike in a skirt? I’ve seen it done in movies at least! Only these bikes were not the best when it came to riding with style OR comfort!
Ever play soccer in a skirt? Well a random spontaneous day out in Ethiopia led us to these fun boys and a game or two of soccer! They hardly knew any English, but they did tell me that I “run fast!” (I was definitely out of shape and not quite prepared for this game, but it was quite fun!)
This is where I got the name, “Skirt Lady” from our Omani friend! Are we going hiking? Well, I’m all in! Little did I know that this hiking was going to be through water and over rocks. Did I still make it? You bet! Did a lot of people question me? You bet! Was it worth it? Heck Yeah!
Also went sailing in a skirt! This one was rather unintentional… I had planned on changing into shorts, but soon decided that it would be fine. Its not like we are going to get wet anyway, right?
I was wet before I knew it, and that skirt was soon replaced with shorts!
Sometimes I found myself exploring a little too close to the edges and ended up needing to rock climbing to get out of them.
First day it snowed in Turkey, you bet I was out there making a snow angel! No cold weather was going to hold me back from being outside…in a skirt.
Alright, I might have been a little extra crazy for this one, especially since I didn’t have any gloves either. However, I might say that my skirts were like an extra blanket on these cold days!
And then there was a zipline that I just couldn’t help but jump on!
Did someone say basketball?? Well, I couldn’t help myself with this one! To add to the affects, I ended up taking off my shoes and playing in my socks because I was slipping like crazy!
Would you jump over this fire if you were asked to? Would you do it three times? Would you do it in a skirt? I found out in Azerbaijan that I definitely would and definitely did! Its tradition for the holiday, can’t let it go wasted, right?
Well that is all the pictures that caught me doing unthinkable acts in my skirts, but I can already tell you that there were many more that occurred without a camera to capture the inconceivable!
For now, my skirts will probably retire till a later date.
Until then,
Laura Leigh Armstrong
