My senior portrait and me 20 years later – quite a high school reunion

After 20 years, I was reunited with my past in Myrtle Beach.  As I walked down memory lane through old neighborhoods, places I hung out as a kid, and the scenes of my childhood experiences, so much had changed.

After all these years, I had changed too.  And that’s why I was really here.

I was in town for my 20th high school reunion.  After reuniting with the places of my past, it was time to reunite with the people of my past.

Moving from South Carolina to California and now traveling around the world, I’ve learned that travel is a lot like a reunion.  Like many of my life lessons from travel, this trip back to South Carolina taught me a lot about myself.

Reuniting with old friends

Matt, Jeremy, Bernard – not bad for 38!

Before the big event on Saturday, I met up with a few people Friday night.  Old friends and classmates, Chris, Bernard, Jodi, Matt, and others were hanging out at a bar.  So we gathered to catch up and renew our acquaintances.

For me, 20 years had passed since I had seen most of these people.  Two months after graduation, I left for good and never really returned.  This is the first time I had spent a few days in the Myrtle Beach area in over 19 years.

Drinks were poured, stories were told, photos were taken, Facebook was updated as our lives flashed back and fast forwarded throughout the night.  I was surprised at how quickly time passed as an early evening quickly turned into the early morning hours.

On Saturday, the wind and clouds hung around but that didn’t dampen our enthusiasm for the reunion.  Dressed in coat, shirt, and pants, I was both anxious and nervous.  There were some people I was excited to see, some I was nervous to see, and some I didn’t even recognize.

Isn’t that how reunions always seem to go?

The truth is, Facebook has made class reunions either easier or irrelevant.  These days, everyone can get connected and know who’s married, how many kids people have, what they do for a living, and where they live.  In some ways, it helps cut through the superficial and go straight to the past or more in depth with the present.

Travel has played a part of my mid life crisis (is this this a guy thing?  Do women experience mid life crises too?) Living in California and leaving behind a place I never really visited again, why did I choose to travel across the country to be here?

Honestly I wanted to show people that I wasn’t who I used to be.  In talking to older generations about reunions, the 20^th seems to be the one where everyone wants to show off and talk about what they are doing with their lives.

Who’s still pretty?  Who has aged?  Did that person really turn out to be the success everyone thought he or she would be?

For me, I was driven by curiosity, a desire to uncover and heal the past, and show that life experiences, changes, and travel have transformed me.

Successes and failures of a high school graduate

Going back to school after 20 years, I’ve learned a lot about life

During the awards ceremony that evening, I had an embarrassing but funny conversation with Carrie about an event that happened right after school.  She told me what a stuck up jerk I was in high school.  Rachel said she always liked and respected me but said I was “an ass.”

Honestly, they weren’t that far off.  In high school, I was a very quiet, shy kid who never had many friends.  I wasn’t the smartest kid in high but I studied and worked hard.  I always took Honors and AP classes and graduated #2 in my high school class.

So people thought I was stuck up.  That’s partly true.  I had very high standards for myself and held others to those same standards.  However, the other side of that was that I was insecure and felt as if no one ever liked me.

I wasn’t very social, never went to parties, and was probably one of the most innocent, naïve high school guys on earth.  I focused on school and baseball, making sure I succeeded in both.

In 6^th grade, I had moved from a small town in central South Carolina to Conway.  I cried on the drive there because I never wanted to leave.  With anger, loneliness, some fond memories, and a deep sense of insecurity, I left Conway after graduating in 1993 and never visited again.

Twenty years later and some of those wounds were still there.

I watched the first girl I ever danced with walk into the room.  I said “Hello” to the first girl I ever really dated and cared about.  I remembered the stories of the people I knew, saw the faces of those I had crushes on and never told, and thought about the mistakes that I made with close friends that I hurt.

Despite some athletic and academic success, those four years of high school were the worst four years of my life.  Since high school, new scars were opened as a result of wounds that never healed.  Yet time, a new life, and new people have healed some of that past.

Tonight, I didn’t let that sour taste linger.  I was looking ahead and not behind.

As I made my way around the room, I was genuinely excited to see so many people from my past.  I didn’t talk much about the past as we shared stories of our lives today.  Throughout the night, I am sure there were many “remember when” moments.  I wasn’t a part of many of those conversations.

Yet I was excited to talk about my life.  I shared my travel stories, talked about my College Football Travel Tour, my adventures in Europe, and my busy travel schedule.  However, I wanted to talk about their lives as well.

For me, success wasn’t what I was doing but what I had become.

As the conversations lasted well beyond last call at the reunion, I felt like a different person.  That’s why I wanted to come.  I hoped people saw that I wasn’t the same person I was in high school.

Whether I was a success, a nerd, had aged or put on a few pounds didn’t matter.  I may have talked more tonight than I did in 4 years of high school.

Whether it’s a high school reunion or a travel adventure on the other side of the world, we want to find those connections with people that matter.  Late into the evening, I shared more of my story and life lessons with Rachel and her husband Marcus.

As the night ended and people went home, we said our various goodbyes as plans were already being made for a 25^th reunion.

I’m not sure if I’ll be back.  But looking back at twenty years ago, I am glad I am not the same person that I was.

Why travel is like a high school reunion

Jeremy and Bernard

As I made my way home around 2 am, I thought about the people I had just seen for the first time in 20 years.

Some had become doctors and professionals.  Many had kids and were married.  Most looked the same while a few looked very different.  Regardless of whether people never left town or they moved far away, we had all gotten a bit older and wiser and now see our grown up world differently.

Travel is a lot like a high school reunion.

Thinking back to that first travel experience, we were young, naive, and excited about the possibilities ahead of us.  Years later, we’re a little older, view the world differently, and aren’t the same people we were when we started.

Like those high school friends that remind us how much life has changed, our travel experiences, cultural interactions, and connections become our measuring stick for how we see, live, and view life.

Travel changes us.  And like a high school reunion, our travel experiences give us an opportunity to look back and reflect on who we are and how far we’ve come.

Looking back only is fun as long as we are continuously moving ahead.  Our past experiences become faded travel memories like stories from our high school years.

A high school reunion gives us that chance to look back while seeing how far we’ve come.  Travel allows us to treasure our memories, examiner ourselves, and look ahead to the next adventure.

I am not the same person I was in high school.  At my 20^th high school reunion, I hope people realized that.  Thankfully, travel has played a part in shaping who I am today.

As I awoke Sunday morning, I set out on a new travel adventure ready to surprise a few people in my life.  It was time for a going home surprise.

What impact have old friends had in your life?  Has your perspective on life and the world changed since you left high school?

This post is a three part series about my surprise visit to South Carolina.  Read Part I Reuniting with my past.

The post Old friends, life changes, and a high school reunion appeared first on Budget Travel Adventures.

Reuniting with my past in Myrtle Beach SC

I landed late on a Thursday night in Myrtle Beach.  Ten years have passed since I last visited here.  Nearly twenty years had passed since I lived here.  Walking through the airport, I didn’t even recognize the place.

So much had changed.

I was only here for a few days.  However, there were very few people that knew I was here.  This was a secret mission to see a few people I haven’t seen in years.

I was born and raised in South Carolina.  Nearly all of my family still lives here.  And most of them didn’t even know I was here.

As I reunited with South Carolina, I took a walk through my past, met with old friends, and planned a special surprise.

A secret mission in an old familiar place

Leaving the airport, I drove to the only two family members that knew I was in South Carolina – my aunt and uncle.

When I lived here many years ago, my aunt and uncle lived only a few miles from my house.  On my late night drive to their home, I didn’t even recognize the roads to their house.  Myrtle Beach had changed so much.

When I arrived at their house, they were already asleep.  I settled in for the evening and got ready for the weekend.  While so much seemed different, it was nice to know that a place I had spent so much of my time as a teenager was still the same.

My time in Myrtle Beach would be short as I was only here until Sunday.  Spontaneous trips are the best and that’s what I had planned on Friday.  On Saturday, I was going back in time.  On Sunday, my secret mission would be fulfilled.

What inspired this trip back to South Carolina?  I was here for my 20^th high school reunion and to revisit the places I used to call home.  I also had a surprise planned – but that would wait until Sunday.

Family, old friends, and memories in Myrtle Beach

Briggs and Jeremy – old friends hanging out in Myrtle Beach

When I awoke on Friday, I talked to my aunt and made plans for lunch in Myrtle Beach.

It was a cloudy, rainy, windy day – not ideal for spring at the beach.  However, I was excited to have lunch with my friend Briggs at Peaches Corner.  Years ago, Briggs and I had many classes together in school.  We were also teammates on the baseball team.

As I parked my car and walked to Peaches Corner, he was waiting at the door with his customary smile.  The present made acquaintances with the past as we spent an hour talking about our lives and memories.

After lunch, I wandered along the boardwalk, beach, and pier in Myrtle Beach taking photos.  A walk on the beach during the perfect storm taught me a few travel lessons about the storms of life.

I remembered September 1989 as a 14 year old when Hurricane Hugo slammed into Charleston and Myrtle Beach.  As I walked along the beach and pier today, I could barely stand.  The storm of the present made me flash back to the storms of my past.

While Myrtle Beach is a popular destination for beach lovers, this wasn’t a happy vacation spot for me.  After all, whether it’s Hawaii or Miami, I don’t spend a lot of time on the beach anyways.

However, this place was a huge part of my life.  Being back here, I was reminded of that past.

Reuniting with my past in Conway and Myrtle Beach

The house I lived in during high school

Over the next couple of days, I revisited the places and memories of my teenage years.

On Saturday, I drove by my old home and neighborhood.  I stopped to take photos of my house and the home of my friend Danny.  My house looked old and a little run down.   Memory lane looked a lot different now on Lander Drive.

I drove the short drive to Coastal Carolina University - a place where I spent a lot of time sneaking on to college baseball games, swimming, going to high school football games, and even playing baseball games on that same field as a high school baseball player.

Our high school football stadium was gone, replaced by a bigger, modern college football stadium for Coastal Carolina.  Much of the campus looked the same but the baseball stadium seemed to be going through renovations as well.

Coastal Carolina University

As a high school kid, I worked summers at a Myrtle Waves water park in Myrtle Beach.  Those were some of my best memories as a teenager – a lifeguard with a tan, friends from different high schools, parties, volleyball games, and a few encounters with girls.  As I drove by to take a look at the park, it looked run down and old too.

Myrtle Waves water park – summer days as a lifeguard

On my last stop, I visited my old high school.  Conway High looked the same but a few things had changed.

My high school now had its own football stadium right next to the baseball field.  As I walked onto the baseball field and stood on the spot where I had spent many winter and spring afternoons and evenings, the field looked the same.  Yet everything was different now.

I spent many hours with this view from shortstop

As I drove away from the school, my walk down memory lane was complete.

Nothing looks the same back home

Coming back to Myrtle Beach, things weren’t the same.  Old familiar places looked different and they weren’t the same as I remembered it.  A few things had improved; many things had changed.

As I looked back on my my high school days and and life memories, I was sad that the treasured memories from my past had aged.

Unlike places from my past, I hope that I’ve improved with age.

On Saturday night, it was time to find out as I met old friends and classmates at my high school reunion.

Have you visited a place from your past?  Did things look the same or were they different?  How did it make you feel to back again?

This post is a three part series about my surprise visit to South Carolina

The post Reuniting with the past in South Carolina appeared first on Budget Travel Adventures.

A Pittsburgh photo essay – downtown skyline at night

A  cold, overcast day greeted me as I took my first steps through downtown Pittsburgh.  From the days of the Steel City, the city of Pittsburgh has received a makeover.  I was here to experience the Pittsburgh Renaissance for myself.

However, this wasn’t the weather I was hoping for when I landed.  I wanted to see the city in all its colors under beautiful blue skies on a warm spring day.

I’ve seen Yosemite in Winter and walked on the beach during a storm in Myrtle Beach.  With just a couple of days in Pittsburgh, would this be the beautiful city so many people told me about?

As I walked through downtown, I didn’t know if the skyline and the weather would cooperate.  As I discovered, this city is special.

Impressions of Pittsburgh

I spent two days walking the streets of Pittsburgh – the Strip District, Market Square, the Stadium District, and even the steel mill history of this once dirty, gloomy city.  Surprisingly, Pittsburgh has gone from Steel City to Tinseltown – a Hollywood of the East.

I was here to learn about the film industry in Pittsburgh.  Yet my introduction to Pittsburgh started with a walk downtown on a cold, gloomy Spring Day.

I headed towards the heart of the city to enjoy a bite of breakfast before walking along the riverwalk.  My first views of Pittsburgh showed me that this city isn’t done with its makeover.

A number of construction projects are continuing downtown as the city seeks to become one of the greenest cities in the US.  As I headed towards Point State Park, the city introduced herself with the best it has to offer.

With 446 bridges, Pittsburgh has more bridges than Venice.  Point State Park leads you to the point where the Three Rivers of Pittsburgh meet – the Allegheny ,Monongahela, and Ohio.  From there, a walk along the river walk shows off two amazing sports stadiums – Heinz Field and PNC Park.

Over the next couple of days, I explored the new downtown Pittsburgh as well as the old steel and iron mills of its years gone by.

Is Pittsburgh the most beautiful city I’ve ever seen?  No.  However, there may not be another city in the US that has had a more amazing makeover than Pittsburgh.

The city of Pittsburgh is beautiful, under blue and gray skies.

A Pittsburgh photo essay

Other travelers have fallen in love with Pittsburgh and have even called the city a hidden gem.  However, these photos offer you a taste of the Pittsburgh I enjoyed and experienced.

Have you visited Pittsburgh?  What are your favorite places to see in the city?

A cloudy morning walk through downtown Pittsburgh

entrance to Point State Park and one of Pittsburgh’s 446 bridges

A view of the Pittsburgh skyline near Point State Park

The three rivers of Pittsburgh come together at Point State Park – Allegheny, Monongahela, Ohio

Heinz Field – home of the Pittsburgh Steelers

PNC Park – home of the Pittsburgh Pirates

PNC Park and the Roberto Clemente Bridge over the Allegheny River

Roberto Clemente Bridge

View of PNC Park from the Roberto Clemente Bridge

A view of the Pittsburgh skyline in front of the Roberto Clemente statue

Pittsburgh skyline from PNC Park

Market Square – downtown Pittsburgh

Highmark building in Market Square

In the afternoon, the sun came out a little in the Strip District

The Strip District in Pittsburgh

The Pennsylvania Macaroni Co in the Strip District

produce in the Pennsylvania Macaroni Co

Pittsburgh skyline at night from the top of the Duquesne Incline

Blue skies and clouds on my last day in Pittsburgh

Pittsburgh skyline and the Allegheny River from the seats at Heinz Field

Downtown Pittsburgh and a gray skies

Gray clouds and blue skies in downtown Pittsburgh

Carrie Furnace – an old iron mill in Pittsburgh and the site of many movies

Pittsburgh skyline from the seats of PNC Park before the Pirates game

Pittsburgh Pirates All Star Andrew McCutchen at bat against the Atlanta Braves

Travel expenses for my visit to Pittsburgh were provided by Visit Pittsburgh.  All photos and opinions of Pittsburgh are my own.

The post A walk through Pittsburgh (photo essay) appeared first on Budget Travel Adventures.

The perfect storm in Myrtle Beach

As I overlooked one of the most popular spots in Myrtle Beach, I watched as the gray clouds covered the skies like a blanket on a cold winter day.  Here in early May, it felt more like winter than spring at the beach.

Mist fell from the sky as the bitter, cold wind ripped through my clothes and made me wonder why I decided to spend a day at the beach.

Flags rippled through the skies clinging to the poles like a kite on a string.  Torn and tossed by a force it can’t control, the flags rippled in the wind, swaying between danger and delight as they displayed their glory on this cold spring day.

Despite the wind, rain, and clouds, I was mesmerized by the beauty of the shores and the awesome power of nature.

On this day, I came to photograph that iconic Myrtle Beach vacation scene.  As I walked along the beach, shivering in a short sleeved shirt and battered by the wind and rain, I got something more beautiful than sun, sand, and paradise.

I didn’t realize this storm on the beach would teach me another travel life lesson.

Crashing waves and wind-swept beaches made this the perfect storm of adventure.

Rock you like a hurricane

In September 1989, I lived a few miles from Myrtle Beach as Hurricane Hugo made its way up the South Carolina coast ripping and shredding beach towns and cities in its path.  Twenty people sought refuge in our home as the strong winds wailed and rain pelted our home as candles flickered throughout the night.

As a young teenager, a massive hurricane passing through your town was an awesome thing to experience.  While I understood the devastation this hurricane caused, I was in awe of nature’s power.

Around 2 am, the eye of the hurricane passed.  For a few minutes, everything was calm as we stood on the porch to survey the damage and enjoy the eerie silence and calm.

As Hurricane Hugo made its way up the coast, the footage of the devastation was shocking.  I knew what I had seen and heard throughout the night.  However, I really couldn’t appreciate the true power and force of this hurricane.

Until I walked along the beach today.

Walking into the perfect storm

Winds were strong as I made my way a few miles inland to Ocean Boulevard in Myrtle Beach.  As I watched the wind, rain, and clouds on Peaches Corner, this wasn’t the same experience that I had an hour earlier.

I walked along the boardwalk before making my way to the shore.  My face stung from the cold wind and grains of sand as they pelted my face as I walked to the pier.

As I stood at the edge of the pier, the waves crashed into the pillars spraying droplets of water soaring into the air.  As gusts of 30 MPH or more (it seemed much stronger to me) ripped through the sands and tossed the waves like a rag doll, I flashed back to Hurricane Hugo in 1989.

As I stood there taking photos, I could barely keep my body still, much less my hands and a camera.  While I experienced the wind and rain from the safety of a house a few miles inland, here I was on the shores, in the middle of the storm, with no protection from the elements.

I finally understood the power of a hurricane, being battered and beaten with nothing to protect me from the full force.  I could barely walk or stand in these strong winds.  I can’t even imagine being on the beach when 135 MPH winds hit these shores.

Making my way to the pier, I snapped photo after photo of the waves crashing as the pier rocked back and forth from the force of the water.  Even in the midst of driving wind, crashing waves, and gray skies, I was in awe of the beauty in the middle of the storm.

The storms of life

As I stood overlooking the ocean rise and crash into the shores from above, I gained a new perspective on the storm.

As the winds battled against me threatening to topple me over, I learned to stand even stronger to combat the difficult situation so I wouldn’t fall.

When I walked onto the beach that day, I knew the storm was coming.  I was prepared to face the winds and the sand in my face as I struggled to walk along the shores until I could see things from a different perspective from above.

I realized that those flags could only display their beauty and purpose when they were blown and tossed by the storm.

Sometimes in life, we walk into the storm knowing that it’s coming and are ready to face it head on determined to get to the other side.  We know that once we fight the wind, rain, and crashing waves, we will be able to see the storm from a different perspective once we get through it.

Other times, the storms come and blow as we lie there completely powerless against the forces that are beyond our control.  Without these storms, we can’t know how beautiful and strong we really are.

When the storms come, we stand up straighter, become stronger, and remain determined not to topple over.

Honestly, I don’t like the storms.  I don’t like being blown and tossed by forces beyond my control.  Whether I see them coming or am caught by surprise, I want to run away to safety and comfort – miles away from the shore.

Yet as I watched the winds blow and the waves crash, the beauty and power of nature were awe-inspiring and beautiful on a less than perfect day.

On those days I want to quit traveling or struggle through the ups and downs of life, I hope I can learn to appreciate the storms of life.  While they are never easy, there is beauty, purpose, and strength that can be found.

This may not have been a perfect day at the beach in Myrtle Beach.  However, it turned out to be more beautiful and inspiring than I ever expected it to be.

What have the storms of life taught you?

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