Darrell and Penelope Pennington made good on their goal to travel the world, as detailed in the July/August 2024 issue. Since listing their home and selling most of their belongings, the couple has visited a dozen countries. In this monthly series, Penelope — who quips she’s “a broad abroad” — shares missives from the road. Read the inaugural column here.
Hello, Evansville Living readers! Thanks for joining us, and I hope that you enjoy our stories. Regardless of any particular political or personal perspectives, 2025 is an interesting time to be traveling abroad. Geopolitical tensions across the globe no doubt have an influence on people’s perception of other cultures and populations. As we have now visited 13 countries, 38 cities, and three continents in the last 11 months, a common set of questions has surfaced both from friends and family in the U.S. and from people we have met while traveling: “Are you afraid to be traveling right now as an American?” “Do you tell everyone you are from America, or are you concerned about doing so?” “What do you think of (insert politician name)?” “How does America compare to (insert city, country, or continent)?”
Thankfully, our experience has been 100 percent positive, regardless of our present locale or world circumstances at any given moment.
We sat in a Moroccan cafe as the only white people (and me as the only female), drinking mint tea and watching Al-Jazeera coverage of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s government being toppled and his palace overrun by military and citizens in early December. We were in England as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited the White House in late February. We’ve watched the war in Gaza continue from every country we’ve visited. It seems as if there has been well-publicized unrest across the globe at each stop we have made.
What we have discovered is that, essentially, all people approach their daily lives in a similar fashion, and all cultures share similar complaints about their country and the people in charge of running it. Certainly, America is a common topic for all people we have encountered, and they are curious about what it is really like in our home country. Perhaps surprisingly, there has been near-universal appreciation for America, and we have been somewhat overwhelmed by how much people verbalize a love for America. We choose to side-step in-depth discussions about individual politicians and instead focus on what we believe makes America unique and such a curiosity to others in the world. Thankfully, we have never once received any negative personal feedback for being American — usually, quite the contrary. Morocco stands out, as daily we would hear from people as we walked the streets, “We love America!” But in every instance where the topic surfaces, we have only been treated positively by locals.
If, for some reason, people have been concerned about traveling abroad due to the “state of affairs” in the world, we would suggest that now is a great time to travel. Take normal safety precautions, avoid locations that pose an obvious threat, and be friendly and outgoing, and you will be welcomed with open arms and attitudes.
Follow the Penningtons on YouTube, TikTok, and Facebook @penelopepennington. In their fifth column, they reflect on hitting the one-year mark on their global adventure.
