The people who shaped my life
And when I approach 5 years travel, I want to take some time to mention the five "people" that the greatest influence on my journey have had .:
Greg - Back in 06, I have a few months in Amsterdam spent playing poker. (Yes, you have called me a professional. Could) There was always this local, the always inviting me out. Looking down on a big pile of his money before me, I was always guessing about it - he was to rob the matter with me? But after a good guy and to see him a lot, to be reassured by the other players, I realized he was just a nice guy and agreed. He and several other players took me for drinks to their weekly home poker games, and overall showed me only the "local" Amsterdam. Greg has taught me that strangers are not always out to get you. As someone who has been on the road for a while, this is now clear to me. But if you're fresh face and new to travel, it is not so easy to let your guard down and let strangers in. But unfortunately I can never say thank you Greg. A few months after I left Amsterdam, he was killed during a robbery at his home. But where he is now, he will be missed
The unknown Backpackers in Chiang Mai -. There are little moments in life that later shape the whole rest of your life. Small events, to form the giant waves ripple out. I never thought my two week trip to Thailand would a little more than a respite from the cold Boston winter. But on that fateful trip in 05, I met 5 backpackers on the way up to a temple in Chiang Mai. About talking about how absurd the two-week-per-year holiday is system in America, I realized that life was more than a 401k and 50-hour week. The small event was one of the decisive moments in my life. A week later, on the beach in Ko Samui, I turned to my friend and I said, the world would wander. The rest is history -. All thanks to strangers on a bus
The Ko Lipe occupying - Shortly after Amsterdam, on a whim I decided to Ko Lipe, Thailand to go. Someone told me it was good, cheap and mainly tourists free - it sounded like a paradise. It was; I ended one month after the top to stay. While I was there, I met Paul and Jane, a couple from New Zealand. We hit it off immediately and became fast friends. This was the first time on my trip, I had really bonded so quickly with people. I thought as a way of travel, to find friends, but never find as a way to "best friends." But Ko Lipe proved me wrong, and years later she took me from New Zealand from the airport and we picked up right where we left off. This experience opened my idea that in a blink of an eye, you can make friends for life
Anna ex -. I often do not talk about my love life, other than to note that it is sometimes hard to day on the road. But I would say that I had a relationship. I met Anna a few days after I to Taiwan. She studied Chinese for the semester. I saw them in a bar and just went to talk to her. (Lesson here men in the world: Go on easy and say hello It works.). We dated while I was in Taipei, knowing that I leave in a few months, made things very ... complex. After I left, we were "together" in a loose sense of the word. Months later, I went to Europe and spent two weeks with her in Vienna. It was difficult, and when I left we both knew I was not coming back. Anna did not want to leave Vienna, and I was not ready to stop traveling. We just kind of left it, although we sometimes contact you stay. But with her my relationship has taught me that I was no way ready for a relationship that made me give up required traveling, and I OK with that.
The La Tomatina gear - As people in Koh Lipe, this was a group of people who just clicked. There were six of us in a dormitory. Strangers from around the world, but we beat them immediately. For the next week we were all inextricably linked. When we moved to Barcelona, people commented on how close we were, what, because we were all from different parts of the world, was so strange. "How many years have you known each other?" She asked. "About a week," we replied. But sometimes people easily connect, and the gang of La Tomatina was a reminder that this is possible, not only once, when you are traveling, but often. And in a perfect example of how things never change, more than a year later I celebrated Thanksgiving with the twin brothers from this group and their families, and it was like we had been friends since childhood. Of course, I would be there for Thanksgiving.
Life is filled with strangers who shape our lives, both good and bad. All the people who let take a piece of yourself with you. And often you realize in that it is not until much later. Surely you do not really think about it until some melancholy, reflective night in the future, if you put a blog post to write like this.
Although I have seen many great places in my travels, they are largely irrelevant. It is the people that I have experienced, who have made my life better. They are what I think most about. And without people like these meet on the street, I probably would not have lasted so long.
The way I turn 30 this weekend, I raise a glass to you and all the other people I've met over the last 5 years. Thank you thank you thank you.
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