Reflections Thus Far…

It’s October 18 (1:20am) and I’ve been on the road now for 15 days.  It really feels like 2.  The one thing I’ve noticed is my tolerance level for many things have gone way, way up.  I also realized things about myself that I never knew before.

Before I get to those revelations, the one major thing I’ve noticed is that I haven’t been as homesick as I can sometimes get while traveling.  I am not sure why this is but I think the near 400 cities I’ve visited pre-Europe has primed me to be able to travel without thinking about home non-stop.  Also, I’ve been able to connect via web cam and instant messenger to home nearly everyday which has helped immensely.

I guess the major thing I’m feeling right now is just awe.  Pure and simple awe.  I am starting to absorb in the depth of what I’ve seen and experienced and I think what has done this to me is reading people’s comments on Facebook.  Today, after posting photos of Rome, I had a few people comment and say that they have enjoyed following along with the Europe adventure and that they have been looking at all of the pictures.

Then, my Grantastic (what I call my Granny) mentioned that she cried when she saw the photo of me tossing a coin into the Trevi Fountain because she saw a movie in the 50s about the Trevi Fountain and she was really hoping we’d go there when we went to Rome.  To know that she was so emotional looking at something I experienced just hours before is so touching and moving (I love you Grantastic more than you can ever imagine!)

I suppose what I’m mostly realizing is that I’m not just on a 3-week trip.  I’m visiting cities and sights that some people dream of seeing in person.  I suppose, if I’m being honest, I take the ability to hop in a plane and be in different locations for granted sometimes.  For me, travel is so easy and I can make decisions to do so quickly.  Like this trip for example…  I woke up on a Wednesday and thought to myself, I want to go to Europe for three weeks, so I purchased my plane ticket and there it was…  I was going to Europe.

My other feeling that I am currently facing is a bit of guilt.  I feel guilty experiencing so much all for myself but at the same time, I feel honored and privileged to have this blog as an outlet to share the experience with others and make them feel like they are here with me too.  It’s nice to know that something you are doing can inspire others, make others feel strong emotions and invoke in people a desire to do something similar.

It reminds me of when I was sitting on the train between Venice and Rome.  I was talking to that woman, Marianna, that I mentioned in a previous post.  When I was talking to her, I was telling her of my current travel plans and my future travel plans (hopefully Dubai in December and in February, South Africa) and she said that I brought back all of her traveling days and it made her miss it.  I guess sometimes I do not realize the power that we truly do have to inspire others.

The biggest thing I’m learning is to not take any life experience for granted.  It’s easy for us to wake up every day and look at it like any other day, go about our routine as we always do and forget that there is so much around us all of the time to be eternally grateful for.  Experiencing the world makes you realize that we’re only just one drop in this big bucket that is the world but at the same time, we wake up every day with the ability to empower ourselves to shape the day and our life to be exactly what we want it to be.

So, the next time you get an itch to do something - whether it’s fly someplace exotic or someplace you’ve dreamed of or whether it’s to buy yourself that new pair of boots you’ve had your eye on - my advice is to just do it!  We only live once and we have to make the most of it…. You don’t want to get to the end of your life with “might have beens”, “should haves”, “what ifs” or regrets.  Go after your dreams because if you don’t, no one will.

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