Why I’m going to Sri Lanka

I’m writing this while on a 17-hour flight to Singapore, which somehow manages to be longer than a flight to Australia. From there, I’ll stay overnight at an airport hotel, then hop on another 3.5-hour flight to Sri Lanka.

So. Why am I going?

You know how some people do “mileage runs” at the end of the year to lock in airline status? Well, I’m less than 1,000 PQP short of United Premier Gold, so I figured I’d bite the bullet and visit a new country while I was at it.

Just kidding. Kind of.

In my seminal blog post, The Travel Criteria, I wrote that I travel for three reasons:

• Eat good food.
• Take pictures of pretty things.
• Watch or play volleyball.

This last-minute trip to Sri Lanka checks all three boxes. The one thing it doesn’t include is the one thing I usually take for granted: traveling with friends.

A little over a month ago, I stumbled across a beach volleyball camp in Sri Lanka scheduled for the end of the year. I barely registered it at the time. I was already going to Asia over Thanksgiving, and Sri Lanka wasn’t on my radar at all.

Then, while visiting my high school friend Chiawen in the Philippines over Thanksgiving, he told me about a recent work trip to Sri Lanka. He showed me photos and raved about the food. Somewhere between the beaches, the curries, and the general enthusiasm, the volleyball camp resurfaced in my mind and refused to leave.

I’ve always wanted to attend a beach volleyball camp. For years, the timing “never worked.” Or more honestly, I never made it a priority. This one felt different, even though I had plenty of reasons not to go.

I had already been to Asia twice this year. A third trip felt indulgent. I didn’t know anyone who would want to commit to a last-minute holiday trip to the other side of the world. I didn’t love the idea of taking more time off during what could be a busy season at work, though the holidays arguably made it the least bad time to disappear. And there was a thought I couldn’t quite shake: I’m not getting younger, and maybe I should do physically demanding, slightly irresponsible things while I still can.

So I did what I tend to do when I’m unsure: I talked to some friends. I prayed. I sat with the question longer than was strictly necessary.

Eventually, I asked for vacation approval and booked the flight.

Even now, somewhere over the Pacific, I feel some anxiety about showing up to a camp where I don’t know a single person. Still, history suggests I’ll be fine. Volleyball people have a way of becoming friends faster than strangers usually should.

I don’t know exactly what this trip will give me. Maybe it’ll be incredible. Maybe it’ll be awkward. Maybe I’ll come home sunburned with mosquito bites, pondering how to make better choices in the future.

But I’ve learned that the decisions that give me the most pause are often the ones that stretch me in the right direction. They remind me that comfort is rarely the same thing as fulfillment, and that saying yes is sometimes an act of trust rather than confidence.

My prayer is to use this time well: to write, to reflect, and to invite God along, trusting He’ll meet me on the way.

For now, Sri Lanka is still a future tense. I’m suspended between departure and arrival, uncertainty and expectation. And that feels like a pretty honest place to start a journey.