UPDATE: AIP Goes Global

Everyone can travel – you just have to believe that you can and allow yourself to look through the eyes of a backpacker!

After 3 months in Africa and no contact with the "real world" Kim Reuter catches everyone up on how life has been living in a rain forest off the southern beaches of Bioko Island!

Back track: Growing up, Kim and her family had been a guest on our cruises many times. She was especially drawn to the Sealife Encounter. (Biology major, duh.) She later became one of the staff members here at AIP and now she has become a great friend. She has decided to travel the world for the next seventeen months and will be keeping a blog and taking pictures!

" I've been living in the rainforest of the southern beaches of Bioko Island working as a field assistant for the BBPP. During this time period, I've was completely out of touch with the rest of the world; I lived in a tent, bathed and fetched water from streams, depended on my coworkers entirely, and even helped porter heavy bags when the going got a little rough.

It's so difficult for me to not only describe the mental and physical toll that this job took on my body, but to also convey the sense of excitement and high spirits that nevertheless pervaded my daily life. Although I've been working on getting various articles written up about my experience, I decided to learn from the age-old adage: a picture is worth a thousand words. Over the course of the next few weeks, I will periodically be posting mini-albums of pictures, each with their own theme. In this manner, I hope to allow the average armchair traveler to really feel a connection with the trials and successes that have defined my existence in the past few months.

During the last few days, we happen upon a mammoth tree; its massive branches positively drip with vines and it towers above the surrounding forest. Pausing to scan the tree,I feel a wave of relief and happiness floods my body. Turning up the corners of my mouth, I spin around; looking directly at my equally excited coworker, I whisper: This is the best day of my life!"

To find out why it was one of the best days of Kim's life and to read updates throughout her journey visit her blog.