Mom, Dad, can I go to high school on a ship? I posed this question to my parents at age 16 during my sophomore year of high school. The day I turned 17, I flew overseas to board that ship and have never looked back.
Traveling and seeing the world was important to our family. My parents wanted us to travel and see the world for perspective, education, and for just the plain fun of it all. At an early age, I could see the world was full of amazing culture, history, food, architecture, and people. The more we traveled, the more I wanted to travel on my own.
As age eventually allowed, during the few summers prior to proposing high school on a ship, I was fortunate to attend a scuba, sailing, and island exploration adventure camp each summer in the British Virgin Islands. We would travel throughout the islands sailing, diving, and immersing ourselves in the surrounding marine and land environment.
That is when my parents’ vision and encouragement to travel started making sense. My shipmates and I obtained life skills by learning how to sail and scuba dive, plus we obtained people skills as we worked together as a team on the boats, in the water, and on land to support the local community. We learned to take care of ourselves, each other, and those around us.
Summers ended (as all summers do), and at 16, I found myself searching for a way to continue traveling while obtaining my high school education. My search uncovered a full-year 11th-grade high school program that sailed to 20 cities in 14 countries on four different continents.
This was travel, education, adventure, and real hands-on learning and life skills at its best. My parents agreed, and off I went. I have been traveling ever since obtaining my high school degree, starting my college education, and working along the way to help support it financially.
In simple terms, travel and adventure provide numerous benefits. Meeting new people, trying new foods, and seeing new things are just a few of the fun aspects. What you come to realize, however, is that the life skills you have built along the way are most valuable. Hands-on learning, effective communication, leadership, independence, grit, resilience, resourcefulness, respecting others, and the list goes on.
Now approaching 20 years old, I have made global friendships, learned invaluable life lessons and skills, gained perspective, and, of course, made mistakes along the way. Traveling is an amazing part of life, so if you get the chance, travel (and keep traveling). You will never regret it.
All photos courtesy of Portia Tate.
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