Well, first off, I'd like to apologize for the delay in posting. Stating that I've been one the road the past couple of weeks would be a drastic understatement, sleeping in hostels, friends houses, cars, campsites, there are many stories to be told. I'm back in London, but now I'm headed home. A couple of posts ago, I talked about how much I hated pigeons, and just so you know, I successfully kicked one. This monumental event took place in Stuttgart, Germany last week. This week's cultural topic is:
PLAYING IT BY EAR
Now, obviously this could be a post about music and how great music is and improvisation and how much I and many others would love to be part of something great like a world famous rock and roll band and rise to the peak of stardom...but it's not. This is the kind of improvisation you use in life, more specifically, in traveling.
I've been gone from home for nearly a year now and with my return this afternoon, this Europe chapter in my life is coming to an end. Have I matured? Probably a little, which is for the best, since I just recently acquired "mid-twenties" status.
I don't know if i can really do this topic justice in this short amount of time I have before I have to run around London sorting out many last minute things before I havce to catch my flight, and I suppose maturity is a topic on it's own. I also wonder if I'll continue to post once I'm back, since I'm not so not in canada anymore. But I'll try.
The entire past year I have basically just been playing it by ear, rolling with the punches, going with the flow, whatever you want to call it. It's been an easy-going existence with many different types of payouts. The main ones being friendships, experiences, and obviously memories, which will hopefully be long lasting and will lead to further payouts. But it doesn't feel like it's been a year, and because I'm just been playing it by ear, I've never really had to plan ahead too far, never really bothered to stress out about anything, and certainly never worried about shit I couldn't control.
Traveling the way I did/do leaves so many opportunities to experience things in way you never would have otherwise. I think it's good that the countries of Europe have designed types of "experience Europe" programs like Eurail or Interrail, but I also find that it's unfortunate people use them. When you lay out months of travel and they are all prebooked, there is no room for interpretation. If you like a place, you can't stay. If you don't like a place, you can't really leave. It's nice to have an idea of what you're doing before you take a trip, but I find it very unstimulating to be on the road after only one night in a place. So in a way, I'm happy for the people for getting out and a getting a taste for what other countries are like, but at the same time, it's too bad they don't really ever get to really know what it's like to BE there.
Am I grateful I have been so fortunate to have had the opportunity to do something like take a year off? You better bet your boots I am. I am also grateful to have had the opportunity to do it in a way that most people I know would never even consider, and I am even more grateful for this. Remember, if you put your mind to it, you can accomplish nearly anything. So at least try.
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