A letter from Lindsay, first sent to the Sundays from Somewhere list. Want it in your inbox each week? Sign up below.
People love to say that leaving means you’re running away. I’ve never believed that.
I had a terrible breakup with a boyfriend of four years. We were living on St. John, working as kayaking instructors. I thought I was going to marry him. We had built a life together.
One day, he couldn’t lead a kayaking trip, so I took over. I grabbed his guide bag with the marine radio and trip money and headed out.
I helped everyone set up their tents, then spent the day kayaking around one of those impossibly blue Virgin Islands bays. At some point, I opened his guide bag. And at the bottom was a stack of love letters.
They were from a woman he had met during a summer we’d spent apart—me in Ecuador and the Galápagos, him in Alaska. And she was an English major, okay? These were long, beautifully written letters about their connection and what they meant to each other.
There was no wondering what had happened. The life I thought we were building ended in the bottom of that bag. Not long after that, I left St. John and took a job in North Carolina leading backpacking trips through a wilderness therapy program. Was I running away? No. I was moving toward something else.
The backpacking job wasn’t really for me, and I wasn’t ready to settle down in North Carolina, so I only stayed a few months. But I met people there who helped me feel like myself again. They reminded me that I was fun to be around, and they even taught me how to kayak whitewater! Making friends had been surprisingly easy, and I think that gave me further confidence to make my next move.
That move was Thailand.
I spent the summer leading adventure and service-learning group trips there. I had never been to Asia. I was about 23, and I wanted somewhere completely different. Did I run away to Thailand? No.
I went because I wanted to be in a place that would challenge me. I knew I’d find joy in learning Thai, eating ridiculously spicy food, and meeting new people. I wanted to be changed by something unfamiliar. I wanted to learn more about myself and maybe love myself a little more.
I don’t think travel is running away. Sometimes it’s the first clear decision you make after a season of feeling lost.
Sometimes it’s how you remember that your life is bigger than the thing that broke your heart. And sometimes, you have to leave what’s familiar to see yourself differently.
A little more from somewhere
Country Spotlight
This Week’s Country
In 1911, Canada established the world’s first national parks service. Originally called the Dominion Parks Branch, it began with a handful of parks in the Canadian Rockies and eventually evolved into Parks Canada.
Canada wasn’t the first country to establish a national park, but it was the first to create a government agency specifically dedicated to managing them.
On My Nightstand
The Art of Gathering by Priya Parker
I’m currently reading The Art of Gathering by Priya Parker. Well, trying to. I made it halfway through before Ryan took it over, so now I’m waiting for my book back!
It’s about why we bring people together and what makes certain gatherings more meaningful than others, whether it’s a dinner party, a family reunion, or a trip.
Even halfway through, it’s been validating to read someone else’s thoughts on something I spend so much time thinking about. And I always love an excuse to get a little philosophical about why we gather in the first place.
Somewhere in the World
What’s Happening Somewhere
Somewhere in the world today, people are climbing mountains to celebrate an ancient tradition.
October 18 marks the Double Ninth Festival, also known as Chung Yeung, observed in Hong Kong and other Chinese communities.
Traditionally, people climb to higher ground, visit ancestral graves, and pay respects to loved ones who have died. The festival falls on the ninth day of the ninth lunar month, and the number nine has long been associated with longevity in Chinese culture.
The tradition of climbing mountains dates back more than 2,000 years, and today, many families still mark the occasion with a hike.
Until next Sunday,
Lindsay
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Written by
Lindsay Eldridge
Lindsay Eldridge is the founder of Away Retreats, a small-group travel retreat company creating experiences centered around connection, curiosity and meaningful time away. She has spent more than two decades planning and leading group travel experiences.
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