My Semester at Sea: I Never Thought I Would Circumnavigate the Globe on a Ship With 735 College Students in my 50's

I am a member of a very small club-the 1% of people who have circumnavigated the globe. I did this in my 50's. You can, too. Here's how.

My 50th Birthday: A Revelation

When I turned 50 I threw myself a big party. My friends and family came to toast and roast me. It was the beginning of the end, or so I thought. It turned out to be the beginning of a new beginning. I had always believed that when people turned 50, that was it. But when my turn came, I realized that in my heart I was still 16, and that after 50, you can damn well do what you please. The time for proving things is over. And, I had nothing left to prove, to myself or anyone else.

Circumnavigating the Globe on a Ship: Four Continents and 11 Ports in Fourth Months

However, that was then, this is now. Fast Forward seven years. In Spring 2008 I sailed around the globe on a ship with 735 college students, visiting four continents and 11 ports in four months. During the journey, I went on safari in South Africa, visited the Taj Mahal in India, went snorkeling in Mauritius and rode on a cyclo all over Ho Chi Minh City in horrendous traffic. I also sailed on a Vietnamese Junk in Ha Long Bay in North Vietnam, investigated nearby caves and got lost while there. Then I rode on a donkey cart and two boats on the Mekong River. I was also attacked by a monkey in India and went to Carnivale in Brazil. Not bad for a 57 years old female.

How Did I Get There?

I had always been adventurous. But, when I turned 50, it was then or never. Time to go for all the things that I had postponed in life.
So, a few weeks after my 50th birthday party I took my 14 year old godson snorkeling off a dive boat on a reef in Maui. He's lucky he could keep up with me. Soon after, I took my best friend and her nine year old daughter ocean kayaking with whales and dolphins at 4AM. I also swam with the dolphins in Florida and actually got to kiss one of these rubbery but cuddly creatures. I have also hiked mountains in New Hampshire and camped out under the stars.

But that was just a warm up. In 2006 I traveled cross country on a bus in China for one month. While there I hiked the Great Wall of China and explored the Tibetan Plateau. I also joined in on a wild and crazy Harvest Festival with Tibetan Villagers and drank barley wine at a local banquet with a Communist Party Chief.

On the Tibetan Plateau In western China, I was a guest at the home of an ethnic Tibetan family where I slept on a brick "kang" (old style bed) and hiked a mile into the woods at night because there was no toilet. I danced all night by the light of the moon with a group of Tibetan girls. One of my traveling companions ate a rooster head in China, but alas, the strangest thing I ate was bull's throat. Maybe next time....

Then things really got in a groove. I applied for and was accepted to be a faculty member on a ship that offered a Semester Abroad Program for College Students. My friends thought I was crazy and my husband wanted no part of it. I didn't care. That's the liberation of the 50's-you're still young enough to have great adventure but old enough not to give a damn what others think about you.

I figure by the time I hit 80, I will have circumnavigated the globe a few more times and met up with a few more wild monkeys. I am just getting started, after all. Turning 50 is one of the bests things that ever happened to me.

Learn more about this author, Marilyn De Angelis Pennell.
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