My bags are packed and my pre-trip to-do list is almost all checked off (“write blog post” being one of the final items), and now comes that part of travel which both unnerves and restores — that would be putting my fate almost entirely in the hands of others.

This is probably something human beings need to do from time to time, and travelers do it whenever they board a plane or choose a lodge. The kind of travel I’m about to experience — bopping around the countryside to small villages to interview survivors of human trafficking — does it more than most.

The itinerary is drawn up to showcase the work we do, and I’m there to capture as much of it as I can. The pace can be frantic, the days long.

But the rewards are great, these glimpses of lives that others live. Not just passing glances, either, but actual conversations with people I would never otherwise meet. These trips always broaden my perspective, and I’m so grateful I get to take them.

So it’s off to Cambodia, to its rice paddies and temples, its mountains and lakes, to a world I can only begin to imagine but will, God willing, soon see.

(Photo: Wikipedia)