I can't believe I'm already 42 years old. Time is so relentlessly fleeting! But I have nothing to regret. Life is given to us only once, so we must live it in such a way that we regret what we have done in our old age, rather than what we never dared to do. My life has turned out in such a way that I feel like a quite happy person!

Everything I wanted and strived for has come true. I have a large, close-knit family: a loving husband and three children. The eldest, Zhanna, is about to turn 18. She can't wait to come of age; she is so eager to become independent and self-reliant. Zhanna reminds me of myself in my youth: I, too, was burdened by parental care.

My mother once had the wisdom to leave me to my own devices. And I was just dreaming of adventures! Therefore, after turning 18, I decided to take part in the then-popular International Exchange Center program, "Work and Travel USA," to immerse myself for a whole 4 months in a world that was different for me at the time, in a different culture. I remember those first 4 months abroad changed me, not so much externally as internally. They became a truly important life experience, forcing me to look at familiar things from a different angle...

The following year, I decided to take part in the program again, paying for it with MY OWN money, which was especially important to me at that time. The financial independence I achieved for the first time in the USA gave me a sense of amazing freedom. And this became my main incentive.

In my last year of university, I doubted whether to go on another trip because a turning point had come in my life when I had to decide what to do next. There were less than two weeks left until the end of registration for the program, and I was still doubting my decision. A coincidence helped: the IEC, in honor of its 20th anniversary, announced an essay contest on the topic "IEC-2029," the results of which would award the best "futurist" a prize: a free trip through the "Work and Travel USA" program. At that time, I was actively involved in journalism, and despite the fact that it was just a hobby, my articles were often published in youth newspapers, and after some time I even had my own column in a local newspaper - "Interview with Stars." So you could say I had already tested my pen at that time.

It's funny to remember now, but back then I started working on the essay with such zeal, deciding that I would test my fate: if I win the contest, I'll go; if not, then so be it.

I reread a multitude of sources with all sorts of predictions for the future, studied dozens of as-yet-unrealized scientific projects containing fundamentally new technical developments; I couldn't sleep at night from the thoughts swirling in my head like a whirlwind...

One fine day, the Muse took pity on me: she sat down next to me and whispered the future to me: I wrote the essay in one sitting. And fate finally smiled at me! I won the contest and sighed with relief: now I knew what I would do next, the uncertainty was gone! I am FREE!!!

Now, 19 years later, I am scared to even think about what would have happened if I hadn't paid attention to that contest back then and hadn't won it. After all, I wouldn't have gone to the USA again, I wouldn't have earned enough funds to pay for my correspondence studies at the faculty of journalism, I wouldn't have been able to regain student status and take part in the IEC program "Work and Travel France," I wouldn't have met my future husband Jean in France in the summer of 2011, and our children wouldn't have been born. And many more such "nots"...

Of course, much of what I wrote in the essay back then did not come true. It's easy to fantasize, to write that in 19 years people will drive cars with solar batteries, be able to read other people's thoughts, and overcome huge distances at the speed of light, but progress is not as fast as we might like...

But...

By 2029, Russia had indeed regained its former geopolitical influence in the world. It became one of the superpowers alongside India and China. Russian became a language of international significance. And despite all the efforts of pro-Western political, cultural, and media figures, Russia has preserved its identity. Fools remained (how could we do without them? it would be boring! ), but the roads, I note, have become significantly better. The famous Russian mentality was not broken: Russians still hope for "avos" (luck) and conquer the whole world with their adventurous spirit. The phenomenon of the Russian person's "fifth point," endowed by nature with a greater gravitational pull for adventure than any other nation, is being seriously studied by meticulous German researchers. Meanwhile, Russian scientists are making discovery after discovery. And now it doesn't matter who landed on the moon first: the Russians or the Americans, because it was OURS who built the first base there. And after the space tourism industry developed to the point where any healthy person can buy a trip to space for a certain amount of money, it was the Russians who first started talking about building interplanetary tourist stations.

All these years, the Russian economy has been gaining momentum rapidly and has reached first place in terms of per capita income. People of retirement age, whose youth was spent behind the "Iron Curtain" of the USSR, have gained the opportunity to travel all over the world! The economy of many countries has begun to depend on Russia. Moscow has become a global financial center. People have started to take an interest in Russia.

World disarmament, despite all the skeptics' predictions, has borne fruit: the arms race has gradually subsided, open military conflicts have become less frequent, and the threat of terrorism has decreased. Strict restrictions on the possession and carrying of weapons have been introduced in all countries of the world. Life has become safer. People have become calmer.

By 2029, most travel agencies in the world were forced to close due to fierce competition with the International Exchange Center, which began to actively practice a new tourist service: exchange vacations.

Now, IEC branches operate in more than 100 countries around the world, which opens up almost unlimited possibilities for it. Now, thanks to the created international information database, any family wishing to spend a two-week vacation, for example, in the Maldives and having contacted the IEC, can hope that they will be matched with a Maldivian family who, in turn, have long dreamed of visiting Russia, and an exchange will take place.

Traveling, by the way, has become easier and more convenient: no one thinks about the language barrier anymore. Scientists have invented "Polyglot" series pills. One such "polyglot" pill works for 24 hours, giving any person the opportunity to start understanding and speaking the foreign language they need. To everyone's jubilation, and especially for the "scatterbrained" type of earthlings, by 2029 the visa regime and document flow have been significantly simplified. All necessary information about every inhabitant of the Earth has long been available from a microchip implanted at birth. During one's life, additional information is simply entered onto the chip, for example, graduated from university, diploma grades are recorded on this device in the form of an electronic table, got married – an electronic stamp in the chip, children appeared, new data is recorded... Thanks to this invention, there is less red tape, and the bureaucratic apparatus of many countries of the world has been significantly reduced.

All these years, the IEC has been ahead of the whole planet! According to the authoritative Forbes magazine, by the end of 2029, its success and influence could be compared, perhaps, to the success of companies like Apple or Microsoft back in 2010.

The IEC invited the best minds to cooperate. The results were not long in coming: its specialists developed a special service for people with limited physical and mental abilities, those who could not move for one reason or another or were paralyzed; those who suffered from Down syndrome; those who were terminally ill... For these people, the IEC offered a virtual journey into a virtual world. The authors of the project were inspired by James Cameron's old film "Avatar." The principle of operation is simple: a person lies down in a capsule, sets the proportions of the body, eye color, hair, etc., chooses a destination in the virtual world, and, upon arriving there, communicates with people just like them.

About five years ago, the IEC began offering a trip around the world...

I am 42 years old. I have worked as a journalist for 20 years and have visited more than 78 countries around the world. In addition to English, I learned Arabic and Spanish. Now I want to try my hand at writing. My dream is to write an autobiographical novel.

My daughter Zhanna turned 18 on June 1, 2029. After her long pleading, my husband and I bought her an IEC "Around the World in 80 Days" trip for her birthday.

I am afraid for my girl, but I believe that the trip will only benefit her, and the International Exchange Center will take care of her safety and well-being.

Lira Pierre, June 11, 2029