Everything ends. Five months ago I sat in the terminal at LAX. Completely uncertain about what the next five months would bring, how I would react, who I would become because of it. I sit once again in the terminal at LAX. This time waiting to board a northbound flight. Not at all curious about what I’ll find once I land. It will all be familiar yet strangely foreign. A place I once knew, as though in a past life.
The experiences I had will never be rivaled. From the clubs in Medellin, to staying in a penthouse apartment in Bogota, to living in the Upper Amazon with a shaman for a month, each day was a brand new adventure. The people I met along the way opened my mind to what life in all other corners of the world is like. There are good people all over. From different backgrounds, ethnicities, and social classes, kindness is a world-wide quality that everyone benefits from.
To be honest, the people were the best part of the trip. You roll into a hostel, tired from the 20 hour bus ride you just endured, and your greeted by a group of travelers from Norway. Or a pair of girls from France. Or most likely a few solo Australians or Canadians or even Israelis. You share stories over a beer about where you’ve been, where you’re going, and any helpful tips you have to contribute to their travels. One beer turns into four and now you’re talking about your life back home. Or stories from earlier in the trip. Four beers turns into seven and now you have some brand new best friends. By the end of the stay, no matter if it’s a day or a week, I would always leave with the same offer, “If you’re ever in California you have a place to stay.” Most of the time they return the offer. Then the friendship solidified and you board another bus, to another town, to another hostel, to more friends.
I urge all of you, if you have the opportunity, to travel abroad. I am lucky. I had no ropes tethering me anywhere. No relationships that couldn’t survive distance for five months, no job I wouldn’t be able to get again. I was gone for five months. 119 days. I managed to spend less than $5,000 on this trip which includes my flights and the issue with my passport at the beginning. I stayed in group dorms in hostels, ate at cheaper establishments, and took buses over planes and loved every minute of it. Overall I logged about 5,500 miles on buses. I saw the world. I saw wealth. I saw poverty. I even saw both of them existing a few feet from each other. And I learned. I learned about the important things and the insignificance of so much we hold dear. I hope to hold onto these lessons as I return to a culture that gets confused with materialism and superficiality.
I was sitting here getting lost in memories when the woman next to me brought reality crashing down upon me. She’s one of those loud phone talkers and she’s lecturing her friend about what sort of topic is appropriate to discuss in a mass-text. I did not miss people like this. It is time to board the plane now, and by the time I post this I will be safely back in northern California to see my family and friends. Thanks to all of you have followed along, all of you I met along this journey, all who helped me along the way, and all of you who I have to come back to. I’ll resume this blog again for my next adventure, and trust me there will be more. Since I have started every post with a quote, I feel like it would be fitting to end the final post with one. From the late great Louis Armstrong, “And I think to myself, what a wonderful world”.
