AROUND THE WORLD IN 18 MONTHS: JESSICA MCHUGH '99 FOLLOWS A DREAM TO 12 COUNTRIES AND FOUR CONTINENTS

Jessica McHugh '99 exploring the ruins of Ta Prohm in Cambodia

In February 2005, I resigned from my managerial position with the American Red Cross. The office, the cell phone, and the meetings were all left behind.

I had six years of successful work experience at non-profits in Philadelphia since graduating from Haverford College in 1999. Everything from organizing direct community service projects to managing millions of dollars, I had done it. And I was one of the youngest managers, if not the youngest, in the American Red Cross region that I served.

There was no reason for me not to continue doing so…except for a dream.
In February 2005, I sold everything I owned and boarded a plane headed to South America. I spent the next 18 months traveling around the world, experiencing life and culture in 12 countries and four continents.

I had planned and saved for my travels for nearly two years, but had never anticipated the way my trip would affect my life.

I didn’t know I would spend seven months in Spanish-speaking countries learning and communicating in the native language (and finally understanding that immersing yourself in a culture really is the best way to learn another language).

I didn’t know I would swim with sea lions off the coast of the Galapagos Islands, or eat tarantulas in Phnom Penh.

I didn’t know I would be trapped in a remote village in the jungle along the Burmese border, or that I would be charged by an elephant.

I didn’t know I would learn backgammon in the middle of Turkey from a Kurdish man whose only English words were “good good,” “no go,” and “champion.”

I didn’t know I would see Iguazu Falls under the light of a full moon, or climb to the top of Waynu Picchu in Peru.

I didn’t know I would teach English for several weeks in rural Cambodia, or swim in a tributary of the Amazon River in Ecuador, later finding out there were caymans among us but “not the people-eating kind.”

I didn’t know I would be the lead volunteer at a rescued elephant sanctuary in the jungles of northern Thailand for two months. Or that I would continue working for them when I returned home by crafting the organization’s message and designing their new website at www.ElephantNatureFoundationOnline.com.

In college, I never had a chance to study abroad. Neither I nor my family could afford it because I had to work during the school year to help pay the bills. After graduation, it never occurred to me to travel. It seemed too expensive and, as silly as it may sound, too impossible to achieve. Even a trip to Europe seemed like a crazy idea to me. After all, I was a recent graduate saddled with hefty student loan payments and a tiny paycheck from a local non-profit.

Jessica and her fiance Tim shortly after getting engaged in Fethiye, Turkey

As the years passed, I became restless. I enjoyed my work in Philadelphia, but I felt like I was missing something. I knew I wanted to return to school to earn a master’s degree in international politics, but that seemed absurd to me given I had never even left the country before.

It was March 2003 when my boyfriend Tim and I were sitting outside a Dairy Queen in Narberth enjoying our blizzards.

Glancing over at him, I blurted out, “Do you want to travel the world with me? I don’t know how to do it, but I think we could. And if you say yes, then we have to do this. We can’t let anything get in our way. Maybe it’ll get postponed for a bit, but if we agree to it right now, then it has to happen one day.”

Taken by surprise for only the briefest of moments, Tim looked at me and said, “Absolutely. Let’s do it. Let’s promise to make this happen.”

And so we promised, and thus an idea began to take life. Months of preparing, researching, saving, and dreaming passed. We originally planned for a three-month trip, which eventually turned into a six-month trip. But as our departure date drew closer, we realized we had enough money saved to travel for 12 months. And so when the calendar read March 2005, we kissed our families goodbye and told them we’d see them the following year, in February 2006.

Although we had researched many places prior to our departure, our trip was very organic. We allowed our instincts and our experiences in each village or city to determine our next destination. Countries were cut, countries were added. Stays were extended and shortened. We never booked a room ahead of time. Instead we showed up in each new place and hit the streets with our backpacks on, looking for a place we could call home for a few nights or, in some cases, a few months.

It didn’t take long for us to become addicted to the traveling lifestyle. The idea of returning home in February 2006 seemed unappealing. There was an entire world to see, and very little time to see it. We discovered we were slow travelers, preferring to see less places deeply, instead of more places quickly, and we wanted more time to take it slow. And so, with some juggling of the budget, we extended our trip from 12 months to 18 months.

We traveled too many miles to count by foot, car, minivan, bus, train, motorcycle, boat, plane, inflatable tire, bamboo raft, tuk-tuk, canoe, river taxi, and balloon. We met hundreds of people, locals and travelers alike, and made many lasting friendships along the way. We had thousands of experiences, all of them memorable in one way or another, and never once did we regret a choice to turn this way or that way. Every way took us someplace new, and every place taught us something new.

When I was around 17 years old, I wrote a Life’s To Do list. I clearly remember writing “travel around the world” and I clearly remember thinking, “This will probably never happen.”

When I asked Tim to travel the world with me, I had no idea we had started down the path towards achieving a dream. I had no idea the number of things we would have to navigate to accomplish it. And I certainly had no idea what it would feel like to finally achieve it.

Before my travels, I didn’t even own a passport. Now my passport is filled with stamps from around the world.

Before my travels, I struggled with Spanish. Now I speak it with confidence, along with a smattering of Turkish, Lao, Thai, and Khmer.

Before my travels, I studied international politics in college. But I had never spoken firsthand to a survivor of genocide. I had never walked in a place of learning that had been used as a place of horror and torture. And I had never had someone tell me, “First they killed my father, and then they killed my brother and my sister.”

My trip around the world changed my life in more ways than I can count. I think it will be several years before I know how the experience has shaped me.

Now that we’re home again, we have more dreams stirring in our minds. Dreams to return to the friends we made around the world. Dreams to travel to new places. Dreams for me to finally attend graduate school.

Occasionally I’ll feel myself think, “This will probably never happen.”

But now I know better than to listen to such thoughts. Because those dreams that are the most meaningful to us are achievable, no matter what or where in the world it is that we dream.

—Jessica McHugh '99

Although their trip may be over, the storytelling has just begun. To read more about Jessica’s and Tim’s travels around-the-world, check out www.HedgehogsWithoutBorders.com.