“board” meetings & one-way tickets (laura)

Normally, I would go for the ladder, but I love this cause I’m working for in Charleston. So much so, I don’t mind working and going to meetings all day long. I feel very lucky to be surrounded by like-minded people and am honored to be a part of this awesome team of conservationists for the summer.  I must admit, paddle boarding and the likes are included when I use the term “work”… they say it’s important to get out in the environment they are working to protect. These people really get it...

So as my time in Charleston comes to an unwelcome close, I will undoubtedly soon be overwhelmed by excitement and to-do lists for this seriously ambitious foreign adventure I'm about to set out on. We are buying one-way tickets to Panama tomorrow. That's a sentence I never thought I'd say. I’ve also been busy getting tons of vaccinations and waterproof gear for the trip. Next challenge: figuring out how to fit everything I need from late August to mid-January into a backpack… that I can “carry for long distances and in dugout canoes, for example”- SIT packing guidelines.

While that sounds like it’s going to be hard to do, the following item on my list will make even that task feel like a breeze: convincing my parents, via maps and itineraries, that I’ll be okay in Chile/Argentina and it’s not going to require some big bodyguard to tag along. Please… wish me luck.

A few years ago, all of this travel would have been a mere pipe dream. Now it's reality?! I can't believe it. I already miss home and Sewanee so much and I have no idea what lies ahead. I just know the fact that a hammock and snorkeling gear is on my packing list has got to mean something good…

-Laura