Passport Wish List – How It Started

Welcome!

Hey, everyone! Welcome to Passport Wishlist. My goal for this website is to help you and those you care about travel the world on your terms. While money can buy lots of things, there isn’t much that can impact a person as much as the experience of traveling.

A little about me

My name is Josh, and I’m a travel aficionado. Even so, my love for traveling came after spending a majority of my life never having set foot outside the United States. My hope is that this website will light up your passion for travel. Additionally, I hope your experiences fill you with the joy I have experienced every time I go on an adventure.

After high school, I found a sales job with a dash of success and lived contentedly for several years. However, at age 28, after an exhausting 80 hour work week, I realized that something was missing. With this in mind, I made a snap decision: I would go to college (a full ten years after graduating from high school) and begin a journey towards practicing medicine. With no idea of what this looked like, what it entailed, how I was going to do it, or how I was going to pay for it, I confidently charged forward with the decision. All the naysayers in the world (and there were plenty) could not stop me. Instead, I did all the work needed to apply to Middle Tennessee State University (including taking the ACT).

“Wait a minute. Isn’t this a travel blog? What the heck does any of this have to do with travel? Why are you talking about your career choices? I don’t see what any of this has to do with anything. “

– Every reader up to this point

The early years

Let me rewind just a little more. Back in elementary school, my school placed me in the 8th grade Spanish class during my 7th grade year. Since I was younger than my classmates and excited to be there, I put lots of effort and attention into learning Spanish. My keen interest in Spanish pushed me to speak and practice with anyone who would listen.

“Seriously, enough about your childhood. What about the travel?

– All the readers that didn’t leave earlier

I didn’t choose the Trav Life, it chose me

Fast forward back to my starting college. I met with an advisor who told me that a degree in biochemistry would check all the boxes I needed. He added, though, that I should add something else that was unique and would help my application stand out. So I decided to add Spanish as a major. After taking a placement test, I learned that I had tested out of all the basic Spanish classes. I would get credits added to my transcript as long as I made a passing grade in a subsequent class. What a great deal!

“Get to the point man!”

– Just finish already

Read the fine print

While reading the requirements for my newly added major a few weeks later, I noticed that one of them was to complete a semester abroad. Also, I needed to get some hours working inside a hospital directly with patients before applying to grad school. After speaking to a friend who had done exactly this during a semester in Spain, I learned that I could travel using the tuition money I was planning to spend anyway.

“Now we are getting somewhere.”

-The Last Reader

I sped home and pulled up the university’s study abroad page. As I looked through page after page of study abroad programs sorting all the programs by price, I found a program that would place me in San Ramón, Costa Rica. Furthermore, this program would let me complete my remaining Spanish classes and allow me to do an internship at a local hospital. I couldn’t believe it. This was the same price that I was going to pay for tuition in the United States anyway. A few things to know about me at this point:

• I had never stepped foot in another country (minus a cruise to the Bahamas for a total of 2 hours on shore)
• I did not know how I was going to pay for this trip (financial aid was kind of wonky for study abroad)
• There was no way in heck I was going to allow this opportunity to pass me by.

No turning back

The moment I arrived at the airport in San Juan, I was reborn into the world traveler who is writing to you now. This single experience would alter my plans, the way I lived my life, my friends, and my worldview. Nothing I could have done prior to my arrival could have prepared me for the unique culture, wonderful people, decadent indulgences, beautiful wildlife, or the breathtaking scenery of the mountains, beaches, and rainforests that awaited me in Costa Rica. While there, I decided to make a list of all the countries I wanted to visit, and my own passport wishlist was born.

Maybe you are thinking about white sandy beaches, clear blue water, beautiful mountains, incredible scenic trails, or getting far away from civilization but have never traveled beyond your hometown. Perhaps you don’t know where to go because the world is such a big place with so many intriguing destinations. Maybe you don’t think you can afford to go or believe that traveling is a luxury. Passport Wishlist is for you! We will discuss how to create your own passport wishlist and how to go about exploring the world on your terms!