Are You Travel-Sized?

I came to the conclusion while on my recent trip to Peru and Colombia that I am very lucky. Not only because I get the chance to travel so often but because I am, in many ways built for traveling. How, you might ask?

Here are five things I don’t have to worry about while traveling that many other people do:

1. I can fall asleep anywhere. Give me 30 minutes and maybe some music on my headphones and I don’t care how loud it is, how light it is, how soft or hard the bed is, or what time zone I hopped over to: I will happily fall asleep wherever.
2. Unique food doesn’t make me gag. I am willing to try almost anything and while I may not like the taste of raw goat liver or fresh milk still warm from the cow, I know that not offending my hosts takes precedent over my own culinary preferences. Luckily my stomach can usually handle it, leading to #3…
3. Rarely getting sick. While I don’t have a stomach of steel, it is a rare day my travel is interrupted for health reasons. Street food, unsanitary bathrooms, iced juice from shabby-looking restaurants all create few problems for my intestines — for which I am eternally grateful.
4. I don’t really get bored. Which is important when you are waiting for delayed buses or planes, in line to get a visa or new cell phone, or travel to a culture with a present-time sense. People-watching can keep me occupied for hours.
5. I come travel-sized! By this I mean I am short (5’3”), with short legs, which makes plane rides and bus rides much more pleasurable for me then they are for my taller traveling companions. The prospect of a tiny hostel bed or getting on cramped public transportation for a tall or obese person takes some planning. Me? I fit on any bed, seat, chair, aisle, or saddle there is.

I also love traveling because I love meeting new people, taking photographs, walking, writing, and simply being on buses or trains: I would probably love traveling no matter what I looked like or how sick I got, but these five things certainly makes my traveling easier.

One of the great things about traveling is that exploring, learning about, and enjoying the world can be done in many different ways by many different types of people. And I am grateful that the type of traveling I enjoy is helped by these five things I can’t control.