Year One: It’s Our Travelversary!
October 24, 2016
One year ago today we shoved all our precious material possessions into a storage locker and managed to put a bunch of other things into a couple of suitcases and hop on a plane to Australia. Thus starting a year of adventure. Adventures I could never have even dreamed of doing in one lifetime, let alone one year.
With so much love and support from friends and family it’s a wonder we’ve stayed away so long, but I can’t help being hopelessly in love with exploring, with not knowing what’s around the next corner or who we might meet.
I can’t believe it’s been a whole year. Seriously, how does time work?!
I will forever be grateful to have such a wonderful travelling companion who has always shared the same goals and outlook on life. It’s seriously amazing that we’ve been able to make this work and not murder each other during some of the stressful bits that go-hand-in-hand with travelling. Over 9 years together and 1 year as super travelling companions = unstoppable team.
We haven’t found anywhere we’ve hated yet, but we’ve definitely found some fav spots. New Zealand, Paris, and Valencia being a few of our top favourite places we’ve visited.
Looking ahead to our next year we are starting in our current location, Dubrovnik (we arrived on Saturday) and will be here for a month. Then up to Split for two weeks, Zagreb for one night, 5 days in Vienna, 5 days in Prague, and ending our European adventure in Berlin for a month over Xmas and New Years. After that we are thinking of jumping all the way over to the Caribbean, then California for a conference, and TBD Canadian plans. I will keep y’all posted on this wacky plan.
I’m currently getting caught up on this ol’ blog. I really hope my readers aka my Mom (hi mom!) really enjoy my ramblings. We spent the past two months in chaos mode starting in Halifax, Edmonton, Iceland, Munich, Zurich, Florence, and Rome. I got to hang out with many friends and family even though I missed a few (sorry!), but I’m exhausted and I’m looking forward to relaxing and catching up on some projects here in beautiful Croatia.
John made an adorable video featuring some highlights of our major stops around the world. We are cute af.
I wrote this thing about my travelling experience when I was in Paris … I was feeling rather artsy and inspired and well, just read it or whatever.
Ode to the “traveller” cliche.
Has it changed me? Maybe, but no more than I have wanted to change. No more than I might’ve changed without it.
I’d rather say it has affected me, I think that’s a better word for it. It has influenced me and impacted me.
It informs me. It informs the person I am and the person I want to be.
With every passing destination I feel a different part of myself emerge. The same way different people can bring out different parts of your personality. I think so can places.
I’ll never do enough. I’ll never see enough. Yet, I’ll do too much and see too much. I can talk for hours about it and say nothing at all. Being able to witness the world in this way makes me feel everything and nothing and I want everything from it and I want nothing.
It’s selfish. All of it is.
I am constantly overwhelmed with the beauty of the world and all its wonders. It’s such a privilege.
Am I a better person for having travelled? Maybe, but I think I’m more likely to have become a shittier person. Just like the end of “Eat Pray Love” where Julia Roberts ends her travels and realizes she’s still a bag of shit person. Just a bag of shit person with cool stories about eating pizza in Italy. OK I’ve never watched the movie to the end… or read the book, but that’s how I imagined the story.
Whatever I was before, I still am. I just have a lot of cool stories about eating pizza now.
To be honest, I wish travelling did change me. I wish I could “find myself” … whatever that means. I would love to come back to my family, friends, my home and be a braver, more exciting, and beautiful version of myself. Instead, I find myself trying really hard to just fit in again and not be a bag of shit who talks about Paris and pizza way too much.
Thanks for all the love. I truly miss not being in everyone’s day to day lives, inviting myself into your homes daily and demanding coffee dates hourly.
Cheers to travelling again! Now that we’re good at it. Now that it’s comfortable. And while we still can. I have so many places I still want to see!
~B~