The bye-bye drug

I have often heard my mom call me her "Bye-bye baby."  Apparently, "Bye-bye" was one of my favorite phrases as a toddler.

Over the years, my ability to voice my feelings has grown more sophisticated, however the longing is the same.  Bye-bye.  I love to travel.  Especially, internationally.  I want to see the weird and the wonderful, the beautiful and the heartbreaking. I want to hear the foreign tongues, and decipher meanings.  I want to feel the different rhythms, and marvel at the different artistic perspectives. I want to witness the challenges, and praise the ingenuity and determination.


This is something that is embedded deep within me, and often shows itself in more than just international travel.  Ask my friends. They can tell you that I am both a very good and a very bad shopping buddy. I will happily shop all day, even if it is just for groceries.  I love to shop, but I am not very good at standing still in a store. They stop to inspect an item, and when they look up, I have disappeared. This is mainly because a huge joy of shopping for me is the meandering portion. When we are out together, I have a tendency to drag them into the weird looking shops, because I want to see what I haven't yet seen. (My poor friends have been in numerous strange shops, including but not limited to Indian Religious supply shops, and mystic shops majoring in unicorns and incense)  I am often trying to talk them into going to dinner at a different ethnic restaurant, and they are good sports, usually.

Where did this come from?  I don't know. According to my parents' stories, it was there when I was very young. I personally think it was something that God built into me before birth.  However, my parents have definitely been enablers in the flourishing of this desire.

Their first mistake was using the city bus to get around town when I was little.  Oh the adventure! They took me to Washington, back in the early 90s, when Washington and California were practically different countries. They sent me to Virginia as a 9 year old, and that was almost like going to outer space, especially because we got there by train and airplane rides (Thanks to the flooding of the Mississippi river). Then there was Mexico. Then there was the Dominican Republic, then the Democratic Republic of Congo.  Then college.  I am sad to say, that I have been stuck state side since college, and it is slowly going to be the end of my sanity.

The problem is this: if I stay put, the need to travel, to go-anywhere-go-everywhere-go-now, builds, and builds, however, when I do travel, the need does not abate, instead it intensifies.  It's like oxygen, or narcotics, the more you use, the more you need.  Hi, my name is Caitlin, and I am a travel junkie.

All of this to say, I need a "bye-bye" fix, and I need it bad!  I would especially love to go to Haiti, Ghana, or East India, but honestly, if you were to hand me a plane ticket that had "Destination: we'll tell you when you land" written on it, I'd ask, "Do I need to pack for hot or cold, and can we leave right now?"

For now, I dream. I dream of meeting my Compassion kids. I dream of working on mission trips. I dream of foreign markets. I dream of boarding planes. I dream, and then I rummage through piles of books like a cocaine addict collects sugar packets until he can find his next hit.

Can I go somewhere, now, please?