TRAVEL WITH A PURPOSE
Having spent ten years on cruise ships, visiting over 400 destinations around the world, I’d like to think that I’d seen more than most. Truth of the matter is that while my “numbers” may seem impressive, the depth of experiences left a bit to be desired. I’d seen a lot, but there was so much that I’d not seen too.
In most cases my time in each port was between four and eight hours, which was hardly time to experience the true culture of the place. I was able to see a lot in many ports and on several occasions we visited a port more than once, so I was able to tick off many “to-do’s”.
With that in mind, these days I make sure that I have a plan and a purpose when visiting a destination. I look for “experiences” that will enrich my life, along with the lives of those that I encounter. My most recent trips to Bali and then the USA provided those experiences in unexpected ways.
When heading to Bali for my third time, I didn’t want to do the same things I had done before. I had heard of a local orphanage for seriously ill children, so after some quick research I found a list of items that the orphanage needed. Virgin Australia were fantastic in giving me an extra bag allowance on my flight over, so I managed to fill that bag plus my own suitcase with 50kg of kid’s clothes that my friends donated. I also bought some essential items that they required. I literally only took a few pairs of shorts and shirts to wear and figured I would buy what I needed once in Bali.
The orphanage was a 45 minute drive from Kuta, so they have drop off points in Kuta to leave donations. This would have been an easy option as I was staying nearby, but I wanted to see the good work that the orphanage did firsthand. My driver took me up to the orphanage and when I arrived, I was greeted by the happiest smiling faces I had ever seen. The children, aged between 3 – 15 all suffered from medical conditions that required specialist care. Despite this, they were so happy. One little boy with a skin condition whereby his entire scalp was covered in legions, was more concerned with running over and showing me his remote-controlled car, than any challenge he was facing.
The staff were so grateful for my appearance and donations, but it was me who was receiving the greatest gift in that moment. To see the amazing facility that had been built and the way donations were making a huge difference in these kids’ lives, was the greatest thank you anyone could receive. To see how the children embraced life despite their challenges, reminded me that we all have the choice when it comes to how we perceive life.
It took me a small amount of time and money to prepare for the visit, but it gave me an experience that was as special as any I had experienced up to that point. It was sad to leave the kids, but I knew that this was the beginning of how I wanted to experience travel from then on.
Later in the year I set off for my dream trip which consisted of a Caribbean cruise, a week in Las Vegas and a white Christmas. The cruise was awesome and Christmas was everything I had dreamed of, but it was in Vegas that I once again discovered my purpose for traveling.
It was just before Christmas and the nights in Vegas were bitterly cold. As I walked from casino to casino, I noticed quite a few homeless people on the streets begging. This isn’t that out of the ordinary, however I noticed that quite a few of them had dogs with them. Once particular man had a very young puppy. As humans, we have choices we can make in life and even though these people had fallen on hard times, they still had choices. Their dogs on the other hand, had no choice. They depended on their owners for food, protection and warmth.
These dogs (as all dogs are) we completely loyal to their owners and having two amazing dogs myself, I could relate to the bond they had. It broke my heart seeing these animals out there looking malnourished and cold, so I decided to do something to ever so slightly elevate the pain.
It was a few nights later on Christmas Eve when I was staying an hour out of Vegas in the snow when I decided that instead of sitting by the fireplace drinking, I’d go and spread some Christmas cheer in “sin city”. On the drive into the strip I stopped at a supermarket and stocked up with water, snacks and dog food. When I arrived on the strip, I loaded up with four shopping bags of supplies and head off down the strip.
I didn’t just hand out food. I stopped and sat with each person and dog and got to know them as they enjoyed my gifts and their dogs devoured the small tins of food. I thought my dogs ate their food fast. These pups literally inhaled the food so fast, they almost swallowed the tin with it.
Given that I had been away from my own dogs for three weeks, I was loving the K-9 companionship and it served as an icebreaker in starting a conversation with their owners. It’s interesting how most of us (me included) judge homeless people. I’m sure they appreciate people giving them money as they walk by, but I felt that sitting down on their level on the street and hearing their stories was better than a few dollars.
Experiencing this was another incredible experience and left me feeling both proud of my gesture and grateful for the life I have. As I walked the streets that night, I saw a few other people doing similar things. They too handed out food and water to homeless people and this reminded me that while there is much anger in the world, there is also a lot of love too.
We often think that it is the grand gestures that make a difference, but the truth is that as long as what we do comes from the heart, it can make just as big a difference to the lives of others and the world as a whole.
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