There's No Adventure In Comfort Zones.

Yeah, it's been a hot minute. Four years, to be exact, since I last scanned my passport at a Global Entry machine... Worried it have trouble capturing my fingerprints and I'll get stuck trying to scan them correctly for minutes rather than seconds.

The thought of going international again... Well, it's like stepping back onto the yoga mat after a long hiatus. You know you used to love it, but you've got that nagging worry you've lost your flexibility - or in this case, your travel savvy.

I mean, where do I even start? There's the packing. Remember when I used to be able to squeeze a week's worth of outfits into a carry-on? Now I'm staring at an empty suitcase like it's some kind of puzzle I used to be good at but have forgotten how to solve.

And don't get me started on the language barrier. Four years ago, I could stumble my way through a conversation in French. Now, I can't even remember how to ask where the bathroom is. "Où est la salle de bain?" Is that right? Or am I asking for a library or something?

But I digress...

It's not all doom and gloom. There's a part of me that's buzzing with excitement, like a kid on Christmas Eve. The sights, the smells, the hustle, and bustle of a city that's not my own. The way the unfamiliarity makes me feel alive. I've missed that. I've missed the thrill of landing in a new place, not knowing what adventures await.

I'll be waking up in a different time zone, maybe a bit groggy, but ready to explore. I'll ease into the hustle of a new city. I'll take my time to understand its rhythm, its pulse, its unique energy. It won't be the rehearsed dialogue of my past travels, but a new script that I'll write as I go along.

And yeah, there will be moments of anxiety, of uncertainty. Moments when I'll feel like a fish out of water. But that's part of the journey, right? That's where the growth happens.

So, I'm packing that suitcase. I'm making sure I have my translation apps loaded onto my phone. I'm ready to feel like a beginner again. Because let's face it, there's no adventure in comfort zones.

But I'll be there, fully present, taking it all in, one foreign word, one new experience, one adventure at a time.

So here's to the journey, to the thrill of the unknown, to the inevitable stumbles and missteps. Here's to embracing the anxiety and excitement of traveling internationally for the first time in four years. Because, in the end, isn't life just one big, beautiful, messy adventure?

Note: ChatGPT wrote this post for me. My prompt was to provide it samples of previous blog posts I had written, and then I commanded it with: "Write a 500 word blog post about the anxiety of traveling internationally for the first time in four years in the voice style referenced previously."