My Favorite Destinations, Part I

When small talk gives way to deeper conversations, a world of thoughtful insight reveals itself. Penetrating through questions about where one works and lives, opportunities to know someone more deeply start with simple, but profound, questions.

“What travel destination changed the course of your life?”

Nine paltry words strung together with a real chance to know someone. At the best dinner parties or conversations over drinks at a bar, questions such as this have been served. It is one of my favorite questions to answer and it is something I am always happy to investigate in a new way.

Traveling to Rio de Janeiro changed my life. I was 29 years old, straight out of graduate school, and eager to explore the world. For a while, an internal shift was occurring inside of my mind. I wanted a life less focused on collecting things. Instead, I desired something more. I wanted a life centered on the collecting of experiences. With this new mindset, travel provided the perfect vehicle.

In celebration of completing graduate school, I considered Sydney and then Athens before deciding on Rio. The city attracted me for countless reasons: culture, beaches, landscape, people, and Rio’s place in the global conversation.

Rio also presented an opportunity to test myself. Two years before my toes felt…