As I sat there one night in Namibia, staring out at one of the most perfect sunsets I’d seen in a while, I realized why I never wanted to visit Africa alone. Sometimes the _____ of travel is not so beautiful when you don’t have someone to _____ it with. And there I was, staring out at this gorgeous _____ , and I was alone. I had no one to share that moment.

I think everyone should travel alone at some point in their life; you _____ a lot about yourself by doing so. I never ____the solo travel I’ve done in the past and never felt alone or bored during those years, but Africa made it ______ that it’s time to move on to a new _____ of my life. I couldn’t hold onto the past any longer.

Passion, like life, is about the journey, not the destination.

Kimberly and I have been planning a trip to Europe for a year. This was a/an _________ of ours. We took our friends Frantoise and Stein Eriksen with us.

The most _________ part of the journey started with a train ride that had some curveballs (不顺利). When we were trying to get on a _________ from Zurich to Croatia at first, we had gotten the departure time wrong and had to _________ to the station. Unfortunately, It was late. So we turn to a ship journey. To _________ it to the ship, we finally found a taxi and arrived an hour late. _________, they waited for us.

Once we got onto the ship, we _________ it was not like a large hotel with great service. It was a tight room. The bathroom was very _________. The shower was a spout (喷头) connected to the bathroom sink. You _________ it on and sprayed (喷洒) yourself, along with the rest of the room.

The week-long ship ride was full of __________. There were people from different nationalities speaking different languages. We stopped on island of all sizes. We bicycled 30-40 kilometers. Then there were high winds — so high that the buses couldn’t __________ because they might blow over. So we took an expensive taxi. And __________ back to make our flight home.

While we loved the more predictable parts of the trip, our real passion was in the __________—the missed rides, the __________ ship. The mixture of cultures, and even the __________.

Sometimes people are so __________ that it scares them to do something different. __________ when they do get out of their comfort zone, the different experiences they once thought were __________ are what stand out. Mixing things up, trying new things, seeing something through another person’s eyes, being __________ to adventure — this is how you create __________.

I retired from my family business four years ago. But I've never been _____ of a challenge. I've sailed around the world before. And I've decided to fly east from Western Australia in a _____.

For the last two years I have trained hard, spending 150 hours______ with my ground team. When the big day came, thousands of people gathered to______ the launch. It was a______ start, with a smooth and steady takeoff. I was______ but still had some doubts—I was flying into the ______ I couldn't guarantee I'd see my friends and family again.

The capsule where I stayed was designed to _____ if I landed in water, but I was not sure whether I could _____ the cruelty of the Ocean. _____, I kept watching the weather, communicating with my land team and _____ altitude to achieve the perfect speed and direction.

On my fifth day, I was terrified to notice I was losing oxygen.______, I managed to save my life by adjusting the pressure in the oxygen cylinder (氧气筒) to stop the oxygen escaping.

I know it was vital to stay______ to control the flight, altitude and my oxygen flow, so I held a spoon between two fingers—If I______, it would fall and wake me up. I never questioned why I was doing this. It is such a unique _____ to see our beautiful planet from high above.

Seeing the coast of Australia again on my 11th day was a huge _____. I knew my journey was nearly over. It was to be a new world record. I could see my team______ below as I flew over.

This _____ really pushed me to my limits, but it hasn't______ me. Next year, I want to fly even higher to break another______ for the hot-air balloon flight