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The year-2017. The goal - travel as much as possible. For as long as I could remember, I always said I would travel and experience life. To quote from the movie Hook, “To live would be the greatest adventure.” And to borrow from Shakespeare, “The world is your oyster.” (I love oysters, you must try them If you ever go to Luxembourg) Point being, the world is yours to explore. Since January, I have been to 10 countries, 19 international cities, 5 domestic cities and accomplished things I never thought would even be close to imaginable. Welcome to my story. 7 countries, 15 cities, 5 weeks. I drank a beer from every country, some in the actual brewery. I drove on the opposite side of the road. I took a train and a plane across countries. I created memories and friendships I hope will last a lifetime. I laughed, cried, stressed, relaxed, reflected, remembered, and stood in awe of stunning countryside and amazing architecture. I visited castles that have been standing since the 12th century and walked streets where Kings and Queens ruled. Europe gave me such an amazing perspective and gave me the one thing I never thought I could get back. Me. My life. My happiness. Again, thank you to everyone who has supported me on this journey! For your encouraging words and amazing friendship! This story starts out with a girl who is broken and unhappy, who was is in a failing marriage and who just desperately wanted to be happy again. I kept saying one of these days I would finally see the rest of what was outside of Orlando. But I was stuck. Complacent and Stagnant. Stuck in a marriage with someone who made me feel alone. So, after years of trying to make it work, I finally walked away. Hungry and eager to reignite that fire that kept dimming for so many years, I stopped saying “one of these days,” and decided to take this trip. It ended up being one of the best decisions I ever made. Time waits for no one. That alone feeling I had for years kept me from appreciating myself. I needed to rebuild a sense of worth. To pick up the broken pieces; to feel whole again. What Europe gave me was more than just a nice long vacation. It gave me such an amazing perspective and gave me the one thing I thought I could never get back. My life. My happiness. My confidence. It gave me, me. I wasn’t trying to rediscover myself. I traveled to escape loneliness. … brought on by what ended up being a loveless marriage. However, the moment I realized I wasn’t having those feelings of loneliness, was the moment feeling alive began to happen for me. I can confidently say that this was the best things to ever happen to me. Not even about crossing off bucket list items, but more about what these trips have done for me. Everyone is constantly on their own journey to self-discovery. There are things that can happen in your life that can leave you broken and bruised. Everybody goes through things good or bad and my journey that sparked my want to travel was unfortunately through a bad marriage. My journey, my marriage, left me lost. I lacked a happiness that I thought I would never get back. This journey, this chapter in my life has come to a close. To say these trips were only about soul searching is actually further from the truth than what the truth is. I didn’t plan these trips to find myself, I came on these trips to make up for lost time. However, while I was there, I ended up realizing who I was, what I am, and what I want in life. I suppose, what I am saying is … go create your own story. Your own adventure. Your own path to life. And remember again, alone doesn’t mean lonely. Until the next adventure, Cheers, Sláinte, Sante. |
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Westvleteren, Belgium
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