Today I Decided to Travel

I’ve been dreaming since I was about 12. I’ve been dreaming about how awesome it would be to just leave everything behind, just travel. Of course, being 20 now, I’m a bit smarter. I know you can’t just leave and go, especially with the menu I prepared for myself.

I want to travel the world, I want to see places that I’ve never seen before. I want to be lost in some village, hungry, and cold. I want to cry and regret while thinking of turning around.

I’ve been to Australia before, I was 18. I traveled from Sydney to Melbourne, and finally to Adelaide. It was incredible, but now I want to do something truly amazing.

I want the whole world at my feet, or rather, on the soles of my shoes.

I’ve been taking classes, pursuing a “career”, but today I realized that it’s not what I want to do. I was listening to a song today, and the lyrics were, “Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away”. I later learned that this is a quote by Hillary Royer. I actually forgot the song now. The point is that my breath wasn’t being taken away by life, so I’m going to change that.

So I decided.

I’m going to travel. Its what makes me feel like what I’m doing currently is, well, living.

I decided that I’m going to not leave immediately, of course, because I’m not 12. I’m going to make this journey incredible. I will read, I will study, I will polish up my Spanish. I will gather emergency funds, and only emergency funds. I will take no money, I will take no valuables, and I will try to get as far as I can.

I want to test myself. I want to be hungry. I want to be cold. I want to experience the world, its food, its cultures, and its people.

I’m not trying to go Into The Wild. After all, the best experiences are the ones that are shared.

I’m setting the time of departure mid-2015. I will be ready by then. So far I haven’t backed away from a challenge in my life, and this is the next big one for me. I want to make Medium my diary while I prepare mentally, physically, and emotionally.

Bring it on.