December 15, 2017

On our latest trip, my father and I headed to Aruba to scuba dive. Without the female members of our family, we spent every day diving, and added 9 dives apiece. This brought me to 50 dives, a solid number I feel represents that I'm finally getting the hang of it. One of our dives was our third night dive, which was particularly cool due to a handful of small squid, and a sunken airplane.

September 17, 2017

Spending time in the Baltic with my family was a great trip. We were able to visit Copenhagen, Denmark; Oslo, Norway; Berlin, Germany; Talin, Estonia; St. Petersburg, Russia; Helsinki, Finland; and Stockholm, Sweden. A vast array of culture and scenery, this trip exposed me to new experiences that I will not soon forget.

July 16, 2017

The second "man" trip, Dad and I headed to Cozumel, Mexico. This trip was shorter than our previous one, as we decided to concentrate solely on diving. We underwent our second night dive (always an adventure), and dove for the first time a cenote, an underwater cave with multiple openings. Though afterwards we decided we prefer open sea diving, the experience was one I won't soon forget.

July 20, 2016

The first trip of just my father and I, we headed to Costa Rica to scuba dive. We encountered bull sharks for the first time, as well as a plethora of colorful fish. After a few days, we headed inland for zip lining and waterfall rappelling to finish our trip.

November 04, 2015

At the end of my semester in Melbourne, Australia, my grandparents took me on a trip around Australia, and then on to New Zealand for a week. While there, we saw glaciers and mountains on the South Island, plus I went bungee jumping for the first time. I decided to pass up the 140 ft platforms to jump 440 ft, as I figured "go big or go home". My mind was so sure I was going to die the first time, so I decided to go a second time to make sure I truly enjoyed it! We also visited the North Island, seeing glow worms in Waitomo Cave before ending our trip in Hobbiton, the now permanent set for part of the Lord of the Rings movies.

July 03, 2015

I traveled to Melbourne, Australia to spend a semester on an exchange program with Deakin University. I spent a little over four months in Australia, and not only traveled around Melbourne, but also visited Sydney, Ayers Rock, Alice Springs, Darwin,  Cairns, and Port Douglas. This allowed me to see a huge variance of landscapes, animals, and the way Australians went about their lives. It was one of the most memorable times in my life, and I am grateful to have been able to live among such welcoming people for a third of a year.

December 15, 2014

I often get asked which trip has been my favorite, and though I believe each experience is unique and hard to compare, our trip to Belize is at the top of the list. Belize marked the second time my grandparents joined us, making it a party of seven. My father and I dove five times while completing our Advanced Open Water certification, swimming up close and personal with multiple nurse sharks. This was also the site of our first night dive, a dive that took me far outside of my comfort zone, but showed the beautiful underwater world in a completely different way. Once we headed inland, my father and I traversed through ATM (short for Actun Tunichil Muknal), a cave full of challenging passageways and skeletons of ancient sacrifice victims.

June 08, 2014

For my latest mission trip to Honduras, I embarked with a group of individuals I had come to know from Spring Mill Bible Camp. Unlike the previous trips which consisted of one group of 5-7 men, this trip consisted of 8-10 groups with over 80 people from several states. This size group meant that each day multiple projects were available. I decided to go with a small group to dig the base for a new wall around an orphanage. I found that I preferred the small group and hard physical work, so I spent the majority of my time there.

We also had the opportunity while we were there to run in a 5K. Our American group got a lot of attention in a crowd of 2,000+ Hondurans, enough so that two of our members appeared in the local paper the next day.

May 20, 2013

For graduation my grandmother offered to take me on a trip. We chose a jaunt from London to Paris, with a special stop along the coast of Normandy. Due to the fact I have always loved history, and both of my great grandfathers served in WWII, any war site is significant. Standing on Omaha beach, one of the five beaches Allied forces stormed on D-Day, I felt like I could almost see the boats bringing man after man to charge the beaches, many of whom would soon be buried in the cemetery that overlooks the beach. I placed my foot in the sand, and cherished being able to stand on the same beach as such remarkable men.

December 10, 2012

A trip to Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands brought us face-to-face with animals that don't live anywhere else in the world. Full of creatures like the blue and red footed boobies (a type of marine bird), Galapagos turtles, and Darwin's finches. While on this trip I was also privy to an experience I can only describe as a "National Geographic" moment. While snorkeling, my parents and I were surrounded my a small school of minnows, who were suddenly attacked by a group of Galapagos penguins, the only penguins to live on the equator. We floated there in shock, as they brushed close enough we could hear their beaks click underwater as they ate their prey. It was truly a once in a lifetime experience.

August 13, 2012

Two weeks after gazing across the Kenyan savanna, I was standing on a glacier in Juneau, Alaska. To say the switch was dramatic is a significant understatement. Alaska was a trip for just my immediate family, and we greatly enjoyed our time together seeing a part of the United States we had previously only seen on TV. My father and I hiked a thousand feet up a mountain just outside of Denali National Park, and meet a wild porcupine practically face to face. It was fascinating to be that close and personal with such an interesting creature in such an interesting place.

July 16, 2012

My only trip at this point to the continent of Africa, I traveled to Nairobi, Kenya, to teach Bible Quizzing to school children. My first trip outside the U.S. without any members of my family, and to a society much different then any I had yet encountered. While there, my meals varied from  minnows with their heads still attached in the second-largest slum in the world to ostrich meatballs at Carnivore, a restaurant often ranked among the highest on Earth. 

The highlight of my trip however was being a part of the first Free Methodist Bible Quizzing International Quiz. Competing on a team with two Kenyan quizzers, my team took 2nd, a designation I will remember for the rest of my life.

August 15, 2011

Our first trip out of the country as a family saw my sister and I, our parents, and three grandparents headed to the Mediterranean. Our cruise started in Barcelona, Spain, and stopped in the ports of Nice, France; Rome, Italy; Pompeii, Italy; Athens, Greece; Santorini, Greece; and Ephesus, Turkey.

After being exposed to so many cultures and seeing so many places I had only read about, I knew that traveling was for me. I decided then and there that I would do my best to see as much of the world as I could, and I've been making good progress ever since.

October 06, 2010

I returned to Honduras with my grandfather again the following year, this time with a different organization. I didn't hesitate for a second when the opportunity came to go again, and loved being a part of something that made such a difference in people's lives. Having a better idea of what to expect, and how to prepare for the inadequacies we would encounter allowed us to be more effective in ministering to the people's needs as well.

October 12, 2009

My first step outside the country, my grandfather took me with a small group of men to Tegucigalpa, Honduras. We built houses and installed water-filtration systems, as well as handing out food to local families. My mind was "blown" seeing how people lived in other parts of the world. I had always known it to be true, but nothing prepared me for it, and the joy experiencing a new place would bring. I knew I had caught the "travel bug", but at that time I had no idea that it would take me to 22 countries by the time I was 22.