It certainly will be epic. Samantha's Excellent Adventure. I am traveling to three countries -- five, possibly six, cities-- in three weeks. I will experience several diverse cultures and attempt to speak three different languages. I will take seven separate flights and two beautiful train rides. I will sleep in eleven unfamiliar beds, in seven foreign hostels and the homes of four strangers. I hope to meet countless friends and make infinite memories. It will be an incredible expedition... but the trip of a lifetime?
It very well may be. It is most definitely the most exciting thing I have planned in my life so far. But the ramifications of calling it a "trip of a lifetime" are unnerving. You grow up thinking that the best is yet to come..... will this be the best? Have I already reached a point in my life, a climax, where nothing will rival what I am about to do? Am I already checking boxes off my "bucket list"? I am about to embark one of the most exciting things that I will ever do ---will I ever see this utopia again?
Unlike my initial outlook, "of a lifetime" doesn't denote singularity. It doesn't mean that this is my one chance to do everything I've always wanted to do. The phrase means that my life will be changed beyond the actual journey. Who I am and how I appreciate the world will forever be altered. Traveling is not a passive experience. My trip of a lifetime will come as much from inside as it does from my surroundings. Inspired to rethink my preconceptions, I will be forced to reconsider my understanding about what it means to truly live. I will be enriched and enlightened and will return home with a breadth of souvenirs within my soul.
I am going away is so that I may come back with new eyes.
The imprint of each country will be more profound than the stamp on my passport.
The reflections of my experience will last a lifetime.
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