Describe a risk you took that you do not regret.
I was in college when a summer study abroad program was established for a new country. It happened to be one of the languages I was studying.
WOW, I thought, what an opportunity!
But my other half was scared to death of the idea of going so far from home…alone. Well, not exactly alone; I would be going as part of a group, but other than a few trips to New Orleans to see a friend for the weekend; I had never been away that far, for that long, without a family member.
We were headed to St. Petersburg, Russia for FIVE weeks!
Other than a puddle jumper trip when I was a baby, I had never been on a plane before and here I was looking at at nine hour trans-Atlantic flight!
My mother who is afraid to fly had me tied in a knot over the trip. But scared as I was, I decided to go. Oh Boy!
It took my Dad two days to calm me down about flying – he did it for his job rather frequently.
With three puddle jumpers from Tallahassee to New York City, it seemed like we would never get out of the United States. After the first stop I called my Dad at work excited about the trip. There were no “I told you so’s” just a joy that I was ok about the flight.
A night’s stay in The City and a long ride to the airport – LaGuardia – the real journey finally started.
Eight hours later we landed in Helsinki for one last change. Five plane rides later, we finally arrived in St. Petersburg. Early May, the sun set late in the evening. I don’t sleep when I travel, so a nap was in order. Waking a couple of hours later and it was still bright daylight, I thought I had slept through the night :)…nope…just a late setting sun!
I took the risk of not only making a trip to a foreign land who was only a few years out of being a part of the Soviet block; but flying across the ocean when I had never flown before.
It was a risk well worth taking and one I repeated the following year.
The longest flight I have taken since those days is a cross-country flight for my Dad’s 80th birthday. I met some family members for the first time, spent some time with my Dad (never a bad thing), and got to see my first Pacific sunset live!