Bill Yeargin - Education of a Traveler: Adventures in Learning Around the Globe

Education
of a
Traveler

Adventures in Learning Around the Globe

Bill Yeargin

Copyright 2021, Bill Yeargin

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical (including any information storage retrieval system) without the express written permission from the author, except in the case of brief quotations for use in articles and reviews wherein appropriate attribution of the source is made.

Published in the United States by

Ignite Press

5070 N 6th St. #189

Fresno, CA 93710

www.IgnitePress.us

ISBN: 978-1-953655-41-7 (Amazon Print)

ISBN: 978-1-953655-42-4 (IngramSpark) PAPERBACK

ISBN: 978-1-953655-43-1 (IngramSpark) HARDCOVER

ISBN: 978-1-953655-44-8 (E-book)

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, web addresses or links contained in this book may have been changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The content of this book and all expressed opinions are those of the author and do not reflect the publisher or the publishing team. The author is solely responsible for all content included herein.

Library of Congress Control Number: 2020925852

Cover design by Ryan Lause

Edited by Samantha Maxwell

Interior design by Jetlaunch Layout Services

OTHER BOOKS BY BILL YEARGIN

Yeargin on Management

What Would Dad Say? Now That Hes in Heaven

Making Life Better: The Correct Craft Story

Education of a CEO

To my family, who have not only tolerated
but also joined my adventures.

Acknowledgements

To my cousin, thought partner, and editor Alex Gurtis. And to both Stephanie Clarke and Leigh. Your comments were all appreciated and made this book much better.

Table of Contents

Preface

110 countries?Yep.

Who does that?Apparently, me.

Did you see it coming ?Nope.

Life is an incredible trip that occasionally takes us where we dont expect, with adventures we never could have imagined that sometimes scare us and other times delight. Whether those places are fun or frightening, we always, always , learn something that becomes an integral part of our education.

As a not particularly stellar student (As and Bs) trying to learn accounting at Palm Beach Community College, my aspirations were not much different than that of my peers: Marry a pretty girl (I hit a home run there), get a job at a Big Eight accounting firm (despite a horrible interview, did that), pass the CPA exam (yep, and it was brutal), and someday become a partner in the Big Eight accounting firm (nope, let that goal go when I realized accounting wasnt for me). I had not voyaged much farther away from my Florida home than North Carolina, and I didnt consider global travel much of a possibilityand, if I did think about global travel, it seemed scary.

A strange knack for being in the right place at the right time (most people call it luck) combined with an ever-growing passion for learning and experiencing new things changed that, however, and resulted in me spending the next forty years traveling the globe and visiting over 110 countries. I have had a lifetime of once-in-a-lifetime experiences.

It all began when my wife, Leigh, started a job at Eastern Airlines. We were able to fly pretty much anywhere in the world for very littlealmost freeand would sometimes go to the airport on a Friday night with no idea where we were going for the weekend. Wed just get on flights that had empty seats. More than once, we ended up in a cold place when we had packed clothes for warm weather or popped in on distant relatives with little notice.

Our first transatlantic trip was to London, and Leigh was upgraded to first class while I sat back in coach. I was in the middle seat for the overnight flight, cramped between two people larger than their seats and could not sleep at all when I decided to check on Leigh. That was a mistake. Leigh was sound asleep on a lay flat seat with a nice blanket and pillow ensuring she was comfortable. And, to top it off, there was a half-eaten shrimp cocktail on her food tray.

Still, despite having not been a traveler, those first trips were exhilarating and inspired me to create a goalwhich I quickly reachedof visiting all fifty U.S. states. At the time, visiting every state seemed like the ultimate travel experience.

A few years later, I became a popular speaker for boating industry events, a job that took me to Europe, Asia, South America, and Australia. Many of those trips were taken with one or the other of my daughters as they got old enough to travel with me and, as homeschoolers, had the flexibility to come along.

Later, family travel, work travel, service trips, and just plain curiosity took me to the worlds richest and poorest communities, the worlds most beautiful and historic sites, and meetings with many powerful people, including seven invitations to the White House and an Oval Office meeting with President Obama.

Years of both travel and being an insatiable reader have materially impacted both my thinking and faith. In the pages that follow, I will share fun, exciting, and scary stories that have served as a unique travelers education. I hope to help readers expand the way they see the world by sharing a front row seat to how Ive been impacted by both global travel and being a reader. In turn, I hope my experiences and travelers education encourages others to travel, keep learning, and maybe even expand their thinking a little too.

Theres no greater adventure than embracing life as a learner.

Chapter 1

Learning vs. Knowing

The scientists, researchers, scholars all say its true But my buddies from high school say it isnt Its so hard to know who to believe. Popular social media post

You can be 100 percent wrong and feel 100 percent right.

The more right I feel, the more likely I am wrong.

Interacting with people all over the world makes one thing clear: Very few people actually seek truth. Yep, very few. Even the most critical thinkers I know only seem to seek truth in areas where they have no strong opinion. Otherwise, they do what most everyone else does: They seek information that will support what they already believe. Most people dont want truth, they want validation.

They are not learners, they are knowers.

Much to the surprise of many fellow Americans, some of my favorite travels have been throughout the Middle East. Whether in Israel, Jordan, Egypt, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Bahrain, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, or Kuwait, I have been treated well and felt safe. Some people seriously doubt my experience or sanity (okay, maybe they have some basis for questioning my sanity, but not for this) when I tell them about my Middle East experiences. This is especially true in a post-9/11 environment where the Middle East seems like a scary place to most Americans.

They have a hard time believing that while my trips there have been adventurous and I have had experiences that pushed me outside my comfort zone, the people always treated me well with a glaring exception I will share later. There is no amount of sharing my experiences that can change what they know about the Middle East, even though they have never been there. Most people seem to prefer knowing over learning.