The Life of a Vagabond

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So its week three or four (I´ve lost count of all forms of time...days, hours etc.) of travelling and Blair, Alyssa, Melissa and I are feeling more and more like seasoned vagabundos (vagabonds en espanol 😊. Yup, we´re becoming old pros and living out of a backpack. And although it can be hell trekkin around with an extra 30 pounds on your back looking for an open hostel upon arrival into an new city, its also kind of liberating to know that we are carrying everything we need to survive on our backs.

As Coach McHeffey and Melissa Waston know, this trip is really a big experiment in freedom for me...to hell with the daily routines, endless hours of imprisonment at the library, and disciplined workout regimens that have been my life for the past 23 years ( I make it sound worse than it ever really was). I´m sure some of you who know how anal and Type A I can be doubted my ability to just let go, and let me tell you I had some of my own reservations as well, but I must say that this Freedom stuff is pretty damn great. I sometimes still get this little urge that I have to rush because I have somewhere to be or something to do, it might take a while for me to completely adjust, but I have noticed that my pace has slowed and as I have written before, I find myself taking much more pleasure in the everyday, ordinary occurences. My excercise obsession is becoming much more balanced...haven´t lifted weights the entire time, that´s a first since my college bball career...and I haven´t gone insane yet like I thought I might.

We wake up each morning with nothing scheduled other than exploring new cities, bussing from one city to another, Journaling (one of my favorites!), people watching and sharing our thoughts about everything and I DO MEAN EVERYTHING with eachother.

I am blessed to be travelling with three of the most amazing women...and I´m not gonna lie yeah they annoy me sometimes and I know I get on their nerves too ( how can we not...we sleep, eat, shower and fart in front of each other...there´s no shame amongst us anymore) but its great to be able to share all of this experience with them. Its great to be able to laugh with them about some of the day to day things like wearing the same clothes for weeks in a row, the joys of Laundry days (I have never loved doing laundry so much!), book light wars in our dorm rooms at night, the oddities of each hostel we stay at---showers that you have to pump to keep going, new sets of keys and locks to figure out every few days, washing underwear in the sink, celebrating new tan lines, tracking down Mullets (loggers you´d be amazed at what we´ve seen), jars of NUTELLA, unshaven legs (sorry if that grosses you out 😊, stumbling through the local language and probably sounding like idiots...

I still have some letting go of my anal tendencies to do, but I must say this little ëxperiment is definitely changing me and I hope ultimately helping me to evolve into a less stressed, more loving, giving and open-minded human being. Alright I´m starting to get cheezy and gushy right now so it is probably good that I am getting kicked out of this internet cafe...apologies for the lack of eloquence...adios...

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Comments

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Its not this or that....
Finding your new freedom doesn't mean that the old you was not great, but I'm glad to see that you are learning to live the compromise. We can live through the stressful existence that is life while still enjoying ourselves… Reading your thoughts reminds me of why I love to travel and why I don’t mind spending every cent I own to learn more about the world. I’m in the middle of planning a big trip through Russia and yesterday I wanted to throw it all out the window but today I think that in the end it all worth it…. I’m happy that you are out there traveling with people you love and friends you cherish.