Goodbyes

Without a doubt one of the hardest aspects of life on the road is saying goodbye to people you care about. Maybe it’s just a person you had an insightful conversation with at a bar one time, or maybe it’s someone that you spent a few weeks with traveling around a foreign country. But with that final hug (and it always comes unfortunately) comes the bittersweet knowledge that it will likely be quite some time before you get to meet them again.

I spent eight months on the road this last year, and in that time met many great people. Since being home in December, I have watched on Facebook as one by one they have all made the journey back home. Some will visit new places this year I’m sure, but for others the journey is over for now and life once again goes on.

In a little over 24 hours I will once again be leaving for a foreign country, and with it converting my life to one lived out of a suitcase again. Without a doubt, I am anxious to get moving again, and am excited about seeing some new places and meeting up with some old friends. While being at home and seeing friends and family again has been great, I find lately that I have been pacing around and simply waiting to get going again.

People derive happiness out of life in different ways, but for me I get a good deal of enjoyment out of the people I meet and the friends I have. That’s why when I started planning my trip this year, I decided to spend a good part of this upcoming year trying to visit many of the people I was forced to say goodbye to this last year.

Shortly I’ll head to Las Vegas with my mom and my sister for my mom’s birthday, and then it’s onward to Cape Town, South Africa to meet up with Scott and Sam (my neighbours in Thailand). After that I’ll be home again for few weeks, and then it’s off to Buenos Aires again to reconnect with all the great people I met there previously. The last time I was there it was hot and humid pretty much the whole time in Argentina (it was summer). Since this time I’ll be going in the fall, it’ll be interesting to experience a milder climate and getting the opportunity to see the leaves fall in another part of the world.