Yesterday felt like a rainbow explosion, as news broke out that the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) ruled that same-sex marriage must be legal in every state. I felt proud to be an American. As I’ve written about before, I want to live in a world where everyone gets the same rights regardless of who they are or whom they love. This isn’t the end of the journey, but it’s a big step for our nation.

In other happy news, I booked tickets for my summer travel yesterday. Drum roll please!

Flight number one:

Flying to Denpasar, Indonesia, on the island of Bali! If all goes well, we’ll have an evening to hang out in Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates. While I’ve been to Pakistan and Turkey, this will be my first time really in the Middle East, and Dubai is known to be a glamourous, oil-rich city full of skyscrapers and shopping.

Bali is known for its marine biodiversity, rich music/dance scene, and its status as a Hindu enclave tucked on the edge of a huge and powerful Muslim country. We hope to visit a sacred monkey forest and see rice paddies, among other adventures. From there, we’ll head out to…

Tokyo! I couldn’t resist heading back to Japan, where last summer I was so very blessed to participate the Japan U.S. Teacher Exchange Program for Education for Sustainable Development. The flight goes through Australia, though, unfortunately, it’s unlikely that we’ll have time to see anything. The plan is to spend most of the visit to Japan outside of Tokyo. The details are still open, but I definitely want to visit Kyoto, and I’d love to climb Mount Fuji if it’s possible. There are so many places in Japan that I want to visit, so this will be a chance to see a few more spots. And finally, we’ll head home.

This map is actually totally inaccurate, though it does show the correct locations on the flight home: Tokyo –> Hong Kong –> New York. First of all, it’s a mercator projection, so the areas near the poles are stretched out. Also, the direct flight from Hong Kong to New York City will likely go up and over the North Pole, not across the top of Africa like this. That will take 16 hours, which I believe will be my longest single flight ever.

I’m so excited to go on this adventure! I leave towards the end of July, so there will be some New England adventures first. Right now, in fact, I’m headed to Vermont. Check back soon for more updates, both from me and some of the other Innovation Academy community members on upcoming global adventures.