Having an Adventurous Child

Carter arrived in Buenos Aires this morning. My globe-trotting solo-travel loving girl has been chomping at the bit to run off to some far off nation. She has had plenty of US travel going to a bunch of weddings and the cape and Maine, but nothing scratches that itch of hers like a foreign destination to discover on her own.

Carter was scheduled to go on a Mongolian horse trek alone in August of 2020. I was not thrilled about that trip through Turkey to Mongolia, but she had earned the money and had the time off between working at Bain Capital and starting a new semester at college. The pandemic had other ideas. So the world shut down and there was no travel for her. So instead she just kept working at Bain full time and going to school full time. It was crazy and it was sad.

Carter’s current employer is fantastic about giving time off so Carter thought November would be the perfect time to do a little jaunt some place new and exciting. South America seemed like a good answer since she had never been there and her airline points could get her there and back fairly comfortably.

Carter has become the master of hostels and one of her favorite brands has locations in Buenos Aires so she booked in there. I remember when she was going to London alone once when she was young I suggested she stay at a hostel and she turned her nose up at me. Then when she had to start paying for her own travel she tried it and has been hooked ever since.

Carter loves to go and experience a location alone, but have a place to also meet other solo travelers. She texted tonight that tomorrow she may go to a museum with a friend she just met in the hostel.

I love her adventurous spirit. Her ability to go alone and discover new things fearlessly is a trait that will serve her well. When she was little she didn’t even like the idea of going to spend the night at someone’s house. I am thankful to Hannah Hannan who said she would break Carter of that fear, and had her for a sleep over with Campbell. Hannah lay on the floor holding Carter’s hand until she fell asleep. That one step at age four of five gave her the knowledge that she could go to sleep away camp, to summer school in Taiwan at the age of 13 and live with a family who she didn’t know, to Berlin for her first semester of college, to London for a summer in college and then all over the world alone.

There is no better education than getting to see the world and meet people from other places. I’m thrilled that is a always a priority for Carter. Have a wonderful trip.