Travel : Life on the road

This is a part of MBA diary entries I made at IMD, about great memories of being a humble and reckless backpacker.

Life on the road	September 12, 2006
Guest entry by Woo Jeong Kim	Unsubscribe
Ken: While Rafael celebrates the birth of Ana Maria, Woo Jeong Kim (Korean) offers a three part series on travel, life, and where things take us. Enjoy! There have been many important factors and turning points that have driven my life to where I stand at this moment. However, above all others, travel has been the most important element which has obviously expanded the boundaries of my life. I have had itchy feet since I was very young. After one of my uncles returned from his backpacking trip to Europe in early 80s, I asked him to unfold his dramatic stories on the road. I often got excited by picturing myself in similar settings. I knew that someday I would make my own stories. I could not wait for the day to come to go on a backpacking trip on my own. Finally, in December 1995, I bought a small backpack and booked a flight ticket to Sydney. When the plane was taking off, my heart was pounding from the sheer excitement. I was wound up by the challenges that I was going to face. My life on the road started that way. After several months in Australia, I would later go on to Canada, South East Asia, India and Europe. Travel has brought me lessons beyond simple cultural curiosity and pleasant memories. It has shown me that life is much more diverse than I could ever imagine. Being open-minded does not mean just accepting things without prejudice but actively exploring them beyond the boundaries, and most importantly how to enjoy and deal with challenges. If I had not been courageous enough to travel alone around the world, I guess I would not have wanted to pursue such a challenge at IMD. Those experiences on the road have enriched my soul and made me realise that there are a lot more things that I could learn and do beyond my home. I would have been complacent with what life in Korea could offer me. On returning from months of travel from Canada in 1996, I made a promise to myself that I would live and enjoy my life just as I had done as a backpacker, being open-minded and mobile. I was young and reckless but full of energy and passion, willing to challenge any boundaries that constrained my life. Years have passed since. Even though it has not been exactly like what I had expected, my life so far has had many challenges and moments of excitement. Being back in Singapore currently for a series of job interviews, I felt thrilled at how my life has changed over the time. Indeed I may not be that far from what I wanted to be. My life is and always will be mobile in many ways as I had wished while travelling. During the next two days, I would like to share some of the valuable lessons and episodes that I have experienced on the road. Maybe this will motivate some of you to spend a wild and adventurous vacation of your own! Woo Byron bay in Australia, December 1995