TRAVELING NINJAS

You know that feeling you get when you’re having a good dream and the alarm clock suddenly goes off? If the dream is really intense or you’re really tired sometimes the dream world and the actual world melt together so you’re not really sure which is real. That’s kind of how I’m feeling this last week abroad. Part of me really doesn’t want this particular dream to end. It’s been an adventure. We’ve been to mountains, beaches, windmills, plazas, churches, temples and cafes, each one more strikingly beautiful and immensely different than the last. I’d be lying if I told you there weren’t trying moments in the last 7 weeks. For example, I’ve learned that me + cars + sheer mountain drops do not equal leisurely sightseeing. “Yes, yes! The view is breathtaking, do you have a paper bag I can hyperventilate into?!”

This Sunday we’ll be flying to Barcelona for the last hurrah of our trip. On Tuesday, we’ll board a flight and arrive at JFK just in time for dinner. So what then? Has our alarm clock jolted us awake and thrown us back into the “real” world? I’d like to think not. There will definitely be struggles upon our return, first and foremost, the lack of jobs, income and housing. Our bills will inevitably be where we left them, unpaid and waiting in our email inboxes. But I’m willing to bet that this next phase will be an adventure too. There may not be endless amounts of free time to stick our toes in the sand or to spend the afternoon walking around snapping pictures but there will be new streets to discover and new friends to meet. In fact, this trip has taught me something that I certainly wasn’t expecting – that there are different kinds of discovery that can only come from deep relationships and late nights over dance parties or bottles of wine or great conversation. I suppose this is something I always knew but never fully appreciated until I came half-way across the world. Above all, this trip has made me realize that no location can ever replace people. Don’t get me wrong, I most definitely love traveling, especially the way that it forces you to think about things, to take a moment to breathe, to walk in someone else’s shoes for awhile. I don’t think that there will ever be a part of me that says no to a trip but I’m excited to have a home base again, taking it day by day and working a little at a time for the next amazing adventure.