Are You An International Traveler?

I got my first US passport in February 2000.

I’d previously visited Mexican border towns and a few cities in Eastern Canada, but back then you just needed a drivers license to go to our southern and northern neighbors.

This Monday, I went to Port Moresby’s US Embassy to get more pages for my passport - it was almost full.

I don’t pretend to be some cooler-than-thou, “I’m a citizen of the world” asshole, but, I did need extra pages for my passport.

Over the past eight years, I’ve been to 17 – plus countries, living in three (counting my American homeland).

As many of you know, I grew up in the rural South and Midwest. When I was young, I didn’t know how far away I wanted to go – just that I wanted to live somewhere else.

Following college, I lived in Washington, DC (which was very exotic for a boy from Little Rock), Chicago (Yankees!), Dallas, and Austin.

While living in these cities, I visited all over Canada, and parts of Mexico, many of our Caribbean neighbors, Germany, the UK, and France. When I moved to Australia, I went to New Zealand (Australia’s Canada), Fiji, and now I’m living in Papua New Guinea, a place I didn’t even know existed a few years ago.

All this to say, I love travel and living overseas. I’m still an American. It’s home. I love our politics, warts and all. I love baseball and (American) football. I love barbeque and Mexican food. I love our spirit and our Bill of Rights.

But, I must say that it’s great living overseas. I want to encourage anyone out there, that if you are given (or even better – take) the opportunity to live beyond American shores - do it.

At a minimum, travel overseas. See what other cultures are beyond the local Mexican or Asian restaurant.

Be faced with that eternal question to American expats – did you actual vote for Bush?

Pretend to be Canadian – they’ll be much nicer to you.

Get out there – take an international flight and see the world.

And fill up that passport of yours – and maybe even have to get extra pages.