Traveling the world is fun… until it’s not. It’s fun until you’re 18 people deep in a 12-person van with your luggage strapped to the top and it’s 2 a.m. on a dirt road three hours into the bush of Africa.
Each day requires sacrifice, especially the days we’re actually traveling the world — those days come with extra grace. Traveling is hard work, y’all.
Sometimes, the only thing getting me through travel day is the anticipation of what’s to come on the other side of the border. Travel days are a dreaded, yet necessary, evil. They are daunting, exhausting, and sometimes, downright miserable.
If you get an air conditioned sleep-liner charter bus, you’re living the high life. To have a bus with a bathroom AND toilet paper? You truly hit the jackpot. Most times, we’re not that lucky.
To paint a better picture: The boys on our squad rode in a van with all their luggage + several live squawking chickens on board. Earlier this week, I crammed on a mini bus with 25 women + three drunk Africans men and about 1000 lbs of luggage.
Traveling from one location to the next often takes several days. Buses stop periodically through the journey to pick up and drop off passengers, so a restful trip unlikely. And if you’re taking a gamble on an African train, good luck. (Most elderly people can run faster.)
This is what traveling the world really looks like:
- no leg room
- language barriers
- stuffy, stinky confined spaces
- clogged toilets
- drip drying. Yuck!
- never enough hand sanitizer
- swollen feet
- lost/stolen luggage
- sketchy bus stops
- interrupted naps
- jet lag
- poor WiFi, if any
- achy backs and sore joints
- heat rash
- motion sickness
- long customs + immigration lines
- pot holes, if you’re lucky enough to be on a paved road
I’m writing this as I endure the last leg of a nearly 40 hour travel period. Four buses, two vans, countless stops, and a two hour boarder crossing experience.
We do this for the sake of the Gospel. We spend countless hours crammed among strangers on rickety seats. We want the nations to know His name badly enough to sacrifice comfort and contentment.
We hunger and thirst after righteousness enough to look past our own physical hunger & thirst (which is very apparent during hour 12 of 20 and you’re out of snacks and water).
The World Race isn’t all fun and games. The immediate adrenaline fades and the luxury of being a world traveler isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. We spend more hours persevering exhaustion than we do in Instagram-worthy settings. It takes endurance. Resilience, passion and drive are necessities the Lord provides to World Racers on travel days.
Traveling the world is wearisome. Traveling the world for Jesus’ sake is worth it – every single time.
Pray for strength this year. 40-some missionaries need it in a big way.
Much love,
Carley
