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My passport just expired, and I have to admit I'm kind of sad. This little navy-blue notebook has been my sole traveling companion on many a wonderful (and an occasional not-so-wonderful) trip over the past decade.

When people talk about the unique blessings of singleness, the opportunity to travel often seems to be near the top of the list. Count me among those waving their passports and frequent flyer cards and offering a hearty "amen!" As a single person, traveling has been one of the most liberating and enriching things I've done.

When I've traveled on my own — for work and for play — I've met some fascinating people. One of the most memorable was the monk I sat next to on a plane ride. I was especially intrigued by his adidas duffel bag since, for some reason, I'd expected him to schlep his belongings in some sort of burlap sack. I've also been privileged to cross paths with an elderly Irish bed-and-breakfast owner who called me "love" every morning, a fellow Metra-rider who offered me encouragement on my first day on an out-of-state summer internship during my college years, and a man sitting next to me on a plane who assured me I'd get the job I was nervously flying to interview for (he was right!). Often these strangers have offered just the advice, encouragement, or hope I've needed — reminding me that no matter who I'm with or without, I never really travel alone. Often glimpsing God's fingerprints in these ways has reminded me of how often they're surely all around me on a regular basis — even when I'm too caught up in the familiar and in my routine to see them.

I've learned some amazing spiritual truths in places I never dreamed I'd get the chance to see. For one spring break in college, I flew with my then-boyfriend to see his parents in Japan (thanks to the frequent-flyer miles his family had racked up). One day when his mom took us sightseeing, we stopped at a popular shrine. There, watching the locals approach the temple and clap to wake up the gods, I suddenly felt a deep appreciation for the fact that our God never sleeps or slumbers (Psalm 121:3-4).

On a business trip to Ireland, I had the opportunity to visit an ancient cemetery with those well-known Celtic crosses marking the spots where long-dead spiritual servants were buried beneath the rocky soil. The coworker with me, who's studied Irish history, pointed to the Bible stories depicted on these historic slabs of stone and concrete and told me how spiritual leaders used to use them to teach these bits of the Bible to the poor, illiterate masses. In that instant, I realized afresh how often I take my Bible — and especially the "spare" copies that often sit on my bookshelves — for granted.

I've also learned some valuable singleness lessons far from home. When in Australia for another business trip, a couple of locals who were showing me around one day told me about how the average age for marrying, at least in Sydney, is well into the thirties. What an a-ha moment of realizing I'm not tardy in not marrying yet, I'm just on Australian time!

And on a train between Vienna, Austria, and Frankfurt, Germany, during the height of the War in Kosovo, I met an Albanian refugee. I was amazed when this peer who'd lost everything — including his father and his homeland — offered me a stick of gum. Through our often amusing attempts to communicate with each other with his broken English and my terrible drawings, I realized once again how privileged I am to live in the US and how often I blow my petty problems out of proportion.

I'll admit there are times I'd rather be on the road to wife and motherhood instead of globetrotting alone. And there have been moments on some of those solo journeys when I've longed for someone to elbow and say, "Wow, look at that!" But in those times I simply snap a photo for an album or frame back home and whisper my awe to the God who created the sites, people, and opportunities that keep luring me out and about in our big, beautiful world.

Armed with these snapshots, memories, and reminders to stop and enjoy the view every now and then in life, I return home a little fuller, richer, wiser, freer, braver, and happier. Filled with these attitudes and experiences, singleness feels less like a waiting room and more like a daring adventure, more like the "abundant life" Jesus talks about in John 10:10.

I can't wait to get my brand-new passport and see where God takes us and what lessons he teaches me next in this adventure of singlehood.

Camerin welcomes your feedback and brainstorms at: SinglesNewsletter@ChristianityToday.com

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