Travel never wears on Sorensen

11.04.2009

The grind of traveling for eight road games over the course of an NFL regular season never gets old for third-year Browns defensive back Nick Sorensen.

If anything, traveling from city to city is good practice for his offseason plans.

Sorensen is an avid traveler who has been to more than 20 countries.

"When I was young, my mom used to love to travel and we used to go on a big trip every three or four years," Sorensen said. "My parents would save up. My dad traveled a lot for work, so he would use his points and frequent flyer miles. We would go on a big trip around Christmas. That was a Christmas gift for us. Ever since then, I've had the travel bug."

Sorensen's travels have taken him to countries in Europe, South America, the Caribbean and Asia. During these excursions, Sorensen has embraced the challenges of language and cultural barriers.

"I took some Spanish lessons last offseason, but (speak) very little," he said. "I can understand more than I can speak, but you'd be surprised at how much people are accommodating in speaking English and how helpful people can be in the world. It's unbelievable.

"China was tough, though," added Sorensen. "It was tough to communicate. I went there like six years ago and that was probably the hardest coming from Japan where most of them speak a lot English. I remember landing at the airport. It took me an hour to find somebody to take me where I was staying. I was a little nervous."

Sorensen can relax a little bit more on these trips now, though. He took his last trip and has planned future travel with his fiancée Danielle.

"My last trip was Ireland," he said. "We went for only four days last year in the offseason, but it was great. We spent two days about an hour outside of Dublin and two days in Dublin. We saw some castles and I drove the first couple days. It's a little nerve-racking because you're on the other side of the road.

"I like to experience culture," added Sorensen. "I want to eat what they eat. I want to see as much historically as they have there or hang with the people. I went to Brazil and some people were like, ‘Did you go during Carnival?' It's just a bunch of tourists. For me, I'd rather go to a place and try and befriend someone that's local. My first thing is I say, ‘Where do you eat?' There's KFCs (Kentucky Fried Chicken) and Burger Kings in every country in the world. I want to eat as local as possible."

Sorensen plans to learn about another culture when he next travels to Fiji.

Along with Tonga to the Southeast and American Samoa to the Northeast, Fiji is part of the Pacific Island region and its big sport is rugby.

According to Fiji's official website, the island nation's original residents were known for their unique type of pottery. One of Fiji's customs is weaving baskets and mats. The mats are often given as gifts for weddings, baptisms, funerals and chief presentations.

"The next trip would be our honeymoon," said Sorensen. "I've never gone anywhere like that. It's a little island-type deal. I like it all. Everything different for me is cool."