We are honored to have our board members as part of our team. They represent important sectors that touch what we’re doing at HIGH BEAM, so we thought it only right that we should introduce them to you in their own words as they remember some of the most impactful or memorable travels of their lives.
First up is Kyle Leliaert. If you read his bio, you’ll know he traveled etensively. Here, he gives us a sneak peek into how his love for travel was born.
-Yasmin
For a lot of people, travel changes their outlook on life and on themselves. For me, it was pretty much the same, but what it did most of all was to help me start to see what I wanted in life. I was only a high school student so maybe it was more of prepping me to “see” when the time was right.
My first international trip was on a high school mission trip to Mexico. We went to Tijuana to
build homes on Spring Break. I grew up in the central coast of California so I thought that because I had friends and knew people from Mexico, that I understood what the culture was about. But I soon found out that you can think you know about a culture because you know its people or studied about it, but you really have no idea until you get there, eat their food, see what their meal time traditions are, learn what they value, and see people living in a different way in a different place. That opened my eyes to what it means to learn about a culture. I think at that point, a seed was planted for my future, but I didn’t know it.
That trip was all about the mission. I was there to serve and see a bit of the culture on the side, but in college, I did a larger immersion trip closer to central Mexico. At that time, I got to more fully experience what cultural immersions meant. Because of these two trips, I was more open to hearing the suggestion of a great uncle who had worked in the Peace Corp. I realized that I could incorporate travel and service — two things that are very important to me — in my life and work after college. Who knew? Maybe I knew, but I might not have fully considered it without the inspiration of these trips and the suggestion from my uncle.
So I ended up in the Jesuit Volunteer Corp working in New York City, far from my small home town in California, and I loved it. The one year commitment turned into five and because of the contacts I made there, I was able to make the decision and have the resources to travel to Argentina for six months and finally fully immerse myself in a culture that was different from anything I had experienced. I mean, I had to get used to milk being sold in plastic bags,
learning how to greet people with kisses instead of a handshake, returning Coke bottles to the store immediately after drinking it, and more. But it was all part of a great experience that stayed with me so long that even after I got back. You become more aware of your own life when you travel. You can’t help it because now, you have a different perspective on things you’ve seen your whole life and it’s hard to put into words how great that feels. Of course, you also come back full of stories to tell your friends and family!
Even after I started working again and got married, the desire to experience other cultures remained strong. A few years later, my wife and I went back to South America for six months, exploring not just Argentina but also Columbia, Peru, Bolivia, Chile, and Uruguay. I don’t think I knew it would be possible when I was a high school student, but international travel opened my eyes to possibilities and confidence that I could take advantage of opportunities I had. I had no idea how much that first Mexico trip would affect my life, but I am so thankful that I took that opportunity when I had it. If I had to do it all over, I’d do it again and again and again.
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