Accidents Fail to Discourage Travel Drive

Before I went skydiving for the first time, I had a quick conversation with one of my roommates who understands my insanity - my drive to experience life and all the "dangerous" situations that come along with it. 

I told him that if anything ever happened to me while I was traveling - be it a skydiving accident, an attack by a baby tiger, or a straight up kidnapping - I wanted it to be his duty to explain to my family and friends that I was all right with it, that I went out doing what I loved and that I wouldn't have had it any other way. 

I'm aware that sounds like teenage baloney, but I truly meant it (and still do). Some people slowly die over the course of 30 years behind a desk, which to me is a much scarier thought than falling off a monument or something.  

It's all good - that's why they make chocolate and vanilla - yet I need to make sure the people who would mourn me understand that I honestly went out doing what I loved. I need them to believe me when I say there's nowhere else I'd rather be than experiencing that moment, however terrifying it may seem to John Q citizen. 

The recent video of the bungee-jumping accident and the news of the sinking cruise ship in Italy has brought some questions in my direction, a few additional raised eyebrows when I discuss my upcoming travel plans (one more question about the safety of my travels to Mexico and, with Tim Tebow as my witness, I'll drag every one of them down there by the collar to show them that it's a fine place to visit so long as you use a little common sense). 

To all travelers: Don't let the news get you down or discouraged, don't get afraid. The American passport statistics are still declining and a lack of travel is, in my opinion, what drives this idea of fear toward the unknown and cultural differences. 

Accidents will happen, as they do on the road every day. Maybe you'll get robbed or lost or have to evacuate a sinking ship. But we still have to keep going, keep searching. 

I think this man, who I met on my drive from Manzanillo to Puerto Vallarta, would agree.