Though no one can go back and make a brand new start, anyone can start from now and make a brand new ending
— Author Unknown
Tuesday, August 21, 2012 (DAY 170)
Today marks another departure of a friend that I have been fortunate enough to have met on my travels, and while we have become close friends among all of the wonderful people I have met, Marc is a genuine person of character that shares the same passion for life and for others as do I. Even though his absence will only consist of several weeks visiting family back in the UK, returning mid-September, his sarcastic nature and our many hours of conversations will surely be missed during this time. I still find it quite interesting how you can develop friendships so quickly while traveling–often with such brief meetings, while back home it may take months to really get to know another person. Maybe it’s because of the closeness in proximity of the living conditions, the freedom of distractions, and the overall perception of partaking in a lifestyle that many find to be crazy. But, who’s the crazy ones, when we are living life free–making real connections that exist outside of Facebook, but tend to be sitting around a table of people from around the world as we share ideas, thoughts, and plenty of laughter. These new friends that I have met for only hours are willing to invite me to visit their country, their city, and stay in their homes. Where have we lost our sense of trust and personal connection with one another to be replaced with fear and paranoia?
Today marks another departure of a friend that I have been fortunate enough to have met on my travels, and while we have become close friends among all of the wonderful people I have met, Marc is a genuine person of character that shares the same passion for life and for others as do I. Even though his absence will only consist of several weeks visiting family back in the UK, returning mid-September, his sarcastic nature and our many hours of conversations will surely be missed during this time. I still find it quite interesting how you can develop friendships so quickly while traveling–often with such brief meetings, while back home it may take months to really get to know another person. Maybe it’s because of the closeness in proximity of the living conditions, the freedom of distractions, and the overall perception of partaking in a lifestyle that many find to be crazy. But, who’s the crazy ones, when we are living life free–making real connections that exist outside of Facebook, but tend to be sitting around a table of people from around the world as we share ideas, thoughts, and plenty of laughter. These new friends that I have met for only hours are willing to invite me to visit their country, their city, and stay in their homes. Where have we lost our sense of trust and personal connection with one another to be replaced with fear and paranoia?
Last night with the limited wifi I had before the power went out, I was talking with one of my good friends, Dana and Holly in California, they asked how I am dealing with living out of a backpack and the lack of comfortable living conditions. I told them that once you overcome the mentality of feeling as though you are continually camping, the experiences easily outweigh those feelings of so-called missed comforts, and, you realize there is a great big world out there that is ready to be explored. But, do it with your own experience in mind, don’t try to recreate a carbon copy of another person’s travel itinerary, but embrace the adventure of your own story–your own experiences. Just as everyone has their own journey in life to follow regardless of travel, the discomfort of arriving in a new city where everything is foreign to you, because it becomes an uncanny welcomed familiarity when traveling there is nothing like it. For those that have experienced this, they understand the chaotic routine that is part of that travel itch we carry deep within us–the inner sense of adventure that lays beyond anything we could imagine, but choose to embrace.
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