The Happy Traveler

Last night I looked back at my first blog post from June 2008. I had visited 12% of the world (I wish Trip Advisor still did the percentage thing, but they don't). Basically, I had been to only 11 countries, which may sound like a lot, but there is a lot of world out there and I wanted to see it.

That fall I moved to Egypt and my life totally changed. I had more travel opportunities, I had a completely different lifestyle, I took up photography more seriously as a hobby, and best of all, Fada taught me how to cook.

Now I have lived in three countries, and I have traveled to 21. I have tried cuisines I didn't know existed, seen ceremonies that have blown my mind, taught hundreds of children, and made friends all over the world. Life has become a really amazing adventure.

A bartender in Vienna once told me about how he had a job in the U.S. returning rental cars to their state of origin; he told me that freedom is driving for days and never having to cross a border. Well, I've crossed many borders and filled a passport and the extra pages I had added. I've loved learning about the cultures within those borders and learned that often those borders are meaningless. Culture divides us and draws us together. We are all human, and wouldn't it be nice if we all remembered that now and again?

I witnessed riots in Athens in 2008, and suffered the effects of teargas as I sat in a cafe. I witnessed the Egyptian revolution from my window on the Nile in 2011 - and the aftermath, which I continue to follow online and through friends. I've encountered protests in Florence and Bangkok. Sometimes this was scary, sometimes exciting, sometimes heartbreaking: these events were human emotions spilling over; these were acts of anger, hurt, rage, and hope. Ultimately, (most of) the people supporting these events just wanted a better world.

And I have seen such great beauty in this world: a wedding in Bali, the coastal trails of the Cinque Terre, Egyptian youth cleaning up litter and beautifying their neighborhoods after the revolution. I have listened as taxi drivers, felucca guides, bartenders, and teachers all offered up their own personal philosophies, and at the heart of their philosophies was almost always the message "We are all one." We may be divided by politics, dress, religion, economics, or language - but in the end, we are all one.

This summer I will be traveling to some places I've never been, and revisiting some favorite destinations. I will start a new passport, embark on new adventures, and try new foods. I've been writing this blog for five years come June, I can't believe how much has changed in my life in those five years - and I wouldn't trade them for anything.