Happy 10 Years of Travel!
Ten years ago I decided to buy a domain to keep as an online journal as I embarked on an adventure to do a bit of soul-searching. I named it Everyone In Between because life is all about the here and now between people. You are reading this blog. I am speaking to you. My words may inspire you (I hope!), and yours might inspire me — and together, we can inspire everyone we know in between us to do something…anything extraordinary.
I never knew this little blog would become such a part of my life. Not only has it been a continuing source of inspiration for me to my future self, but for thousands of people around the world who are looking to move abroad. The amount of love and emails I have received on my posts about Feelings About Moving Abroad, Schengen Visas to creating my own web app Schengen Calculator for helping travelers calculate their trips to Europe.
To my thousands of monthly readers, thank you for putting your stories and trust in me to help you make the best out of your travel adventure.
People often tell me that they have changed so much in 10 years. I ask what has changed? Maybe they grew more mature, changed their opinions, stopped smoking or drinking, made a family, started dressing better, or picked up a new hobby that changed their lives. But I can honestly say the one thing that has changed me from travel is the fact that my mind has completely expanded from the American bubble I grew up in. I now can see perspectives from so many different cultures, and I can honestly make better decisions in my life from that outlook.
In my 10 years, I have:
- Traveled 79 cities in 25 countries
- Met the love of my life
- Became an aunt of 2 Japanese-American young ladies
- Traveled 5,000 miles to surprise my family for my 30th birthday
- Cherished moments over money
- Stop caring about what others thought (that’s real freedom right there)
- Experienced other cultures and reflected about my own
- Said ‘yes’ to party invites, late night beers, sunrises, last minute vacations, calls for help at 2am, and red-eye flights to see someone for just 24 hours -all instead of staying home for no reason
- Got an EU citizenship so now I can travel/work where I want in Europe
- Inspired others (hopefully) to live more freely through my blog
- Worked the nightlife scene and the 9-5 (Both are equally challenging)
There are still so many more goals to go for my next 10 years. I cannot even begin.
I can honestly say I am the same person I was 10 years ago in terms of my life objective, maybe a bit hidden behind more mature barriers, and definitely more worldly. To me, that’s a good thing. As I look back at my first post for Everyone In Between, it dawns on me that everything I wrote that day is still the DNA of how I live my life.
We need to look back and smile and move forward. We have families and boyfriends and girlfriends and responsibilities in our lives, yes…but you cannot forget that you are an individual and that your wants come before anything else.
It’s incredible that my 23-year-old mind had no idea what the future 10 years would have in store for me – and yet still those words that everything happens for a reason could not have held more value in my travels and decisions that I made to get me where I am today. In fact, the last 10 years have been the most exhilarating, random, and inspiring moments of my life.
But something was lost along the way
I started off this European journey with a lot of fire. Call it youth, but since moving to Stockholm and ‘nesting’ at age 27 – basically getting everything I thought I wanted – that fire has slowly turned into a calm ember. I basically lost my courage to try something big and new, and I hate that. I think I can now realize why so many people are afraid to just take a leap and follow their dreams. It’s comfortable not to. It’s less risky. And it’s not me. One could say I am still on the way to finding my ‘adventures everywhere’ even if it is in the small things. Having adventures everywhere is to remind me that every-day life should not be routine.
Even if you think you are giving something up…you are doing it for a reason, and that reason is that everything happens for a specific reason that will essentially come out as the most amazing, beautiful and life-changing thing in the world. – May 11, 2008
The Next 10 Years
I hope when I look back at this post in 10 years from now, I can also say they were the best years of my life. I hope I make decisions that ignite that ember again. Because everything happens for a reason.
Happy 10 years of travel to you, me, and everyone in between us.
