Shanti, Shanti

I woke up one morning in Mykonos at 5am. I was in a "room" that would have been more appropriately called a jail cell. Jess had stolen all the covers and my whole left side was numb from laying on it all night. We had spent about 12 or 13 nights crammed in a single bed like this. To make matters worse, the previous night we had been fired from our new jobs...just one week after being hired, all hopes of making our negative bank accounts back in the positive completely disappeared. Yet, I couldn't get the smile off my face. All I could think was "I love my life. I am so lucky. What's coming next? It will be awesome." Why did I have these thoughts, you wonder? Let me try to explain.

It's difficult to sum up why this year of traveling has been so amazing without sounding a little bit corny. I could talk about our first breathtaking views of Machu Picchu, the neon colored fishes in the great barrier reef, the stars of New Zealand, rolling down the dunes of the Sahara, or climbing the crumbling great wall of China...the list of amazing sites seems to be endless. But, when it comes down to it, we weren't seeing famous sites everyday, nor were we motivated enough by the end of our journey to muster up the excitment that these places deserve. What sticks out most in my mind were events and people, not statues or sites - I will never forget our going away ceremony in Laos, having a conversation without words with an old Chinese man, having tea with the Moroccan "Godfather", or the feeling of gratitude towards our new Portuguese family.

What made our year truly amazing was our mentality and the people we have had the pleasure of meeting along the way. We got up and went where the wind took us, teaching me that we shouldn't be in a rush with life and there is so much to see and experience. In a time when being different, having unorthodox beliefs, and looking or dressing against the trends is almost scary, I learned something so obvious - that everything is "normal" somewhere and we all should not be looking with a critical eye but with an open heart. We have had some tough experiences with people and places, but the overwhelming majority of the time we were showered with generosity and kindness, enriching my faith in humankind. We are going home a little beat up, with numerous scars, God knows how many cavities, a semi-permanent layer of dirt, raggedy clothes and no money. But, I don't care. I still have a smile on my face, thank whatever God out there who allowed me to find this drive, and recognize that if it weren't for my home environment - the freedom that I have in my country and the support I have from my family - that I would find life a lot more boring. This drug called traveling is addictive and I'm not sure I will ever have enough.

That being said (with all it's sappiness), I am sure you are wondering "what next?!" We can't travel forever...or can we? In all honesty, we don't know what is coming our way...I suppose a job of some sort must be in our immediate future - what kind, I don't know. I have seen and felt too much this year to not hit the road again sometime soon.

Thank you for reading throughout this past year and I hope that you have been able to get a taste for what we have fell in love with. Until next time....