By: Caroline Kambrich
I remember it like it was yesterday. I was on a school field trip in Spain, and my class was getting ready to head home. The hostel we stayed in was painted bright yellow, inside and out, and by the end of the week, I was convinced the color alone would give me a headache for life.
I was going to miss the amazing breakfasts downstairs with the host families, especially the scrambled eggs (they just tasted different) and the guava pastries. I’m fairly certain I had one every single day. Mornings would start slowly, with sunlight pouring through the windows and everyone trying to piece together their plans in a mix of English and Spanish. By the time we headed out to explore, we felt confident… maybe a little too confident. And that’s how one afternoon, we found ourselves completely lost.
A few of us had wandered away from the main group after lunch, confident, of course, that we knew exactly where we were going. Within twenty minutes, we very much did not. Our carefully folded paper map (this was pre-smartphone days) was not as helpful as we had hoped, and honestly, none of us knew how to read it. The street signs blurred together. None of us felt fluent enough in Spanish to confidently ask for directions.
For a moment, there was that quiet panic, the kind where everyone pretends they’re calm but is secretly calculating how long it will take to be officially declared missing. But after a minute or two, I sucked up my breath, walked over to an elderly gentleman with map in hand, and pointed to where we needed to go, mixed with some of my broken Spanish. He looked at me, then my group, and quickly discovered we needed help. He smiled, pointed us in the right direction, and before long, we found our way back, a little embarrassed, but proud of ourselves too.
Travel has a way of testing you. It stretches you and reminds you how big the world really is, and how much you’re able to handle when you step outside your comfort zone. It teaches you that even when you feel lost, you can usually find your way again, especially when you slow down and ask for a little guidance.
These days, traveling looks a little different. There are more bags, more logistics, and definitely more snacks involved. Someone always overpacks (my husband). Someone always forgets something (my husband). And yet, those trips, chaotic as they may be, are the memories I treasure most.
I would like to travel more than I do right now, for Colton to experience the world and see how big it is. It’s nice to step out of your routine, and to be reminded that growth doesn’t usually happen when everything feels perfectly comfortable.
That field trip to Spain taught me more than I realized at the time. It taught me independence. It taught me humility. And it taught me that sometimes feeling a little lost is just part of discovering something new.
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