The One Where Michelle Goes to Peace Boat

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This post is part 8 of a series of stories recounting all the ups and downs of my ~6 year journey around the world to all seven continents and seven seas.

December 2015

For four weeks between November and December after I had to vacate my apartment, I bounced around from one generous friend’s home to another until it was finally time to head to Yokohama to board Peace Boat’s Ocean Dream.

I recalled one of my first journal entries from back when I had just moved to Japan in which I’d written, “To Japan, Asia, and beyond,” never fathoming in my wildest dreams that it would ever amount to anything let alone this.

Over the next 100+ days, I’d end up circumnavigating the Southern Hemisphere and stopping at 17 countries along the way.

I couldn’t think of a more perfect opportunity that would combine my passion for teaching English and traveling literally around the world.

I had no idea what to expect, but I was excited.

Prior to starting the global voyage, our team of international teachers met and trained for a few days in Tokyo, and needless to say, my feelings of inadequacies only increased exponentially.

All the other teachers were so ridiculously talented and had interesting backgrounds and life stories.

My life up until then paled in comparison.

I definitely felt out of place, but I was also so ecstatic to be in their company, like I finally made it to the cool kids’ lunch table.

The Ocean Dream crossing under the Yokohama Bay Bridge

Whatever differences I saw between us though was slightly bridged when it came time to sign the last bits of paperwork, which included putting down a personal address.

More than half of us laughed and joked about how we didn’t have one, including me, due to varying nomadic, contract-to-contract lifestyles and embarrassingly settled to writing down our parents’ address as a placeholder.

These were definitely my people.

Departing Yokohama

The closer the sailaway date approached, the more unreal life seemed.

But it was also exactly how I had hoped it’d turn out.

Michelle is a freelance writer who has traveled to all seven continents and 60+ countries through various forms of employment. Over the last ten years, she’s worked as an ESL teacher in Japan, a youth counselor aboard cruise ships, and a hospitality manager in Antarctica.

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