Now, try not to get too jealous- you, too, can achieve international fame to this level, if only you have travel "seeping in my veins" like Tracy does. (Really, Tracy? Seeping?)
Obviously, this is an internationally distributed newspaper, but in case you didn't get your copy today, this is the front page:
Global Trekker: Chester native drops everything to travel the world.
By Elyse Reel
Jul 30, 2008
Among Waugh's overseas experiences was glacier hiking in New Zealand.
Perhaps one of the most tempting dreams on record is that of dropping everything and just going – quitting your job and taking time to jet around the world.
That’s exactly what former Chester resident Tracy Waugh did last December. Fed up with her high-pressure job in New York, she and a friend submitted their resignations and hopped a plane to Thailand.
As her father, Miles, is Scottish, Waugh is no stranger to overseas travel; she’s traveled with the family to visit Scotland nearly every year since her birth, and last year, she visited Thailand and Cambodia. But that has never abated her intense fear of flying.
“I’m horrifically afraid of flying,” she admits. “You have to strap me in and practically give me drugs! But I have to travel. It’s seeping in my veins, and it’s something I have to do.”
In the end, Waugh’s love of travel won out over her fear of flying. By the end of her four-month travels, she’d made stops in Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos, New Zealand, England, Scotland, and Ireland.
Beginning her journey in Thailand was a natural step for Waugh, as her brother and sister-in-law, Iain and Jennifer Waugh, teach in Chanthivurri. “Iain speaks fluent, amazing Thai, and he took us everywhere,” Waugh says. “We even got to be in a commercial!” The segment, for which Waugh received 12,000 baht (equivalent to 50 American dollars) for twelve hours of work, was to promote the Thai equivalent of Red Bull.
“The title translates to ‘bird spit,’” says Waugh. “They extract the fluids from birds’ nests. It’s supposed to make you youthful and happy. It tastes like candy, actually!”
Such surreal experiences weren’t limited to Thailand. In Laos, Waugh and her friend Katie discovered just how much the international community cared about American politics. After a two-day trek through the jungle, they attended a tribal ceremony where village elders tied bracelets to their wrists. “We’re sitting and sweating like crazy, and one of the elders is tying on a bracelet and chanting,” Waugh recalls, “when he suddenly says to me, ‘Do you like Bush or do you like Obama?’”
American culture, Waugh discovered, had permeated nearly every country she visited. “I learned so much about other people and the way they view America,” she says. “Sometimes it’s really good; sometimes it’s really bad. But the undertone of everyone I spoke to was that America is awesome. Even with something negative, there’s respect underneath it – except Bush. Everyone hates Bush.”
On some occasions, Waugh was even able to change others’ perceptions. “We came across so many people, especially Irish and English, who would hang out with Katie and me for a day, and they would say, ‘We thought all Americans were loud and had a “we own the world” attitude, but you guys are really cool, and you’ve changed our perceptions on America.'”
As she traveled, Waugh found herself changing, too. “I was sad and pathetic in New York – working all the time, on my BlackBerry all the time, and I didn’t realize what I was missing,” she explains. “Even in the beginning, when I began traveling, I was worried and nervous about flying and the money. But when I arrived in Thailand, I just thought, ‘This is awesome; I have to keep doing this.’ It made me look at things in a whole new way.”
Now back in the States, living in Richmond’s Fan District and working in Chester, Waugh doesn’t see her travels coming to an end any time soon. “I’ll be going back to New Zealand and Ireland,” she promises. “Every year, I hope to go somewhere. Right now, my friends and I are trying to plan a South American trip. We’re a little nervous, but we’d still like to try that in the next two years.”
Now a seasoned traveler, Waugh encourages others to try it, too. “Everyone that I’ve ever met – even if you’re deadly afraid of flying – should do this,” she says. “Ireland’s so close, and so is Scotland.” Not only is a ticket to Ireland relatively inexpensive for international travel ($500), she notes, but “it’s really easy to get around, and the people are incredibly helpful.”
There’s even a chance for intercoastal romance: “In Ireland, I met about seven of my girlfriends,” Waugh says. “We got so many proposals from drunken Irishmen!”
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