A week of extremes!
An 90 degree day this week, and a morning waking up to a snow-covered car. Days with family I’ve gotten to see every day for months, and days with a friend I haven’t seen in years. Days with strangers (okay… new friends!) in a classroom, and days with friends-I-haven’t-met-yet out and about in the school of the world.
Only one “uh-oh-I-forgot-a-photo-today…now-what.”
One unexpected result from this goal/commitment (see #3 here): My awareness of time’s passing has increased. The end of each week catches me by surprise every time, but helps me appreciate how quickly time goes and to appreciate consciously the things I’m doing with my time.
March 5:
The mural across from the downtown college campus where I got to take a storytelling workshop (see goal #4 here).
March 6:
I’m gonna miss this skinny kid. He came to talk to me, soaking wet and explained his brilliant new technique for dealing with needing to be cold to fall asleep. Solution: blast himself with cold water in the shower (“1 minute belly, 1 minute back, 1 minute head”), then leverage the power of evaporation by not toweling off (“so I don’t conserve heat”). #whateverworks #nerdalert #iloveyou
March 7:
I spent the day with my grandmother, driving her to her surgery follow-up appointment and then having lunch at her favorite spot (Panera.) But failed at camera action. Runner-up: little dude picked his mom a wildflower on his walk home from school. Pretty cool.
March 8:
Took this little beast to toddler time at the gymnastics play-place and then on a hike. He loved it all! Exhaustingly delightful. #gladI’mjustanauntie
March 9:
Been finishing out my final family days with pre-sunrise yoga in the living room with my mom. Post-namaste view. Not pictured: kickin’ it with my favorite massage therapist or a new local friend whose art is the bomb.com. Should have save the photo for her studio!
March 10:
Ten years ago, when skinny jeans became a thing, I was…. disgusted. I swore I’d never participate in such a heinous fashion crime. #welcometotheclub #tookyoulongenough #luddite #lateadopter
March 11:
Met in the Philippines, reconnected in Sweden, got to visit her at home in Amsterdam, and now time for her bucket list American road trip in my bucket list location: the American South!
Sure, hopefully some people with the travel itch will be motivated to book a trip! I think I was overly-ambitious on how many places I could see in less than six months. I was fortunate to live in Europe for a few years and had several jobs with international travel over the years, so I focused on new countries this time around.
Pretty amazing!
Jema, we exchanged a few travel emails in August I believe. Wanted to let you know that I arrived back in the US after an epic round the world trip that lasted 167 days. Your travel advice helped me with my packing choices and you are right, parachute cord is handy. Thanks for continuing your blog. Very useful. I started out super light but also included Antarctica and a few cold countries so I had to add a bag. Oh well. Wouldn’t trade the trip for anything. Jason McElroy
Jason! I remember you! So great to hear about your trip – thanks for writing in. Antarctica?! LUCKY man. Wow – congrats! Have your written about your travels anywhere? Would love to read.
Cheers!
Hi Jema.
Yes, if you are ever bored, my blog and pictures are at http://www.jaymacindustries.com
Not as interesting as your blog, but was fun for the relatives…and will help me to remember everything for sure!
I love that you say 23 countries on 6 (out of seven!) continents “may not seem like a lot for 5 and a half months.” Uh… it seems like a gazillion places to me! Not sure what my country count is, but in seven years of non-stop travel, I’m pretty sure I haven’t even broken the 30-barrier yet . 😉
Looks like an amazing trip! Congrats! (Shared your trip summary on FB… hope that’s okay?!)