Serendipity and the intrepid traveler

“The most memorable things you experience when traveling are the those you can’t plan for. You can check off all the places in your guidebook, but the things you will remember most are the ones which are the result of serendipity.” Gary Arndt of Everything Everywhere

Barbra Drizin has reinvented herself out of necessity – several times. After a divorce and her youngest graduating, she wondered, “What’s next?” Her love of travel led to a Google search on how to teach English as a second language and soon she was on a flight to the TEFL Language Institute in San Diego. After getting her certification she returned home to give away her belongings and packed one pair of suitcases. Next stop? Mexico. Through the Institute she’d found placement at a school in Cuernavaca.

Barbra’s best friend joined her for the adventure and when they reported to the school, the principle said, “We don’t have enough students for the class. It’s been cancelled. I e-mailed you yesterday.” Barbra, of course, had been traveling all day and not online. After a short cry, she soothed her nerves with a visit to Taxco, the famous “Silver City.” Her friend felt that it was time to go home but Barbra was determined. After watching her friend’s plane lift off for the States, Barbra visited Senor Guzman at a local travel agency and emotionally explained her situation. He gallantly ripped a page listing all of the local private schools out of the phone book and encouraged her to visit each one on the list.

That next Monday morning, Barbra was dressed in her one suit and took a taxi to make the rounds of schools. One didn’t have a job but recommended a better hotel. Another principal invited her to a family dinner and at a third, they offered her a job on the spot as one teacher was about to take a maternity leave.

At the school, Barbra met Miss Sonia, the admission director and their friendship led to subletting the perfect apartment on the Zocalo, the city center marketplace, and for the next three months that was home. That one job led to a series of teaching positions culminating at Collegio Marymount, where the H.R. official said they would be paying her by direct deposit. “I don’t have an account!” Barbra confessed but soon she was led to the central Banco and her opened her own Mexican bank account. Serendipity led from one adventure to another and over the intervening months Barbra joined a circle of local artists, authors and expats and never looked back.

“Whatever happens is for a reason and will lead to your next adventure. Keep an open heart and eyes, instead of saying, I’m going home. Make home wherever you are,” Barbra suggests, “I don’t travel highways but scenic routes and winding paths to see where they lead. You never know what will be on the side of the road and obstacles always make for a more entertaining trip.” Today Barbra keeps busy with her own company, Social Media Educators, and continues to travel the world.

Picture courtesy of Barbra Drizin