6.26.2006
An email has just reawakened all my feelings about traveling. Traveling, what a weird thing that makes you feel so itchy to 'leave.'
It often makes me wonder why and how just the simplest processes such as checking out or going through customs. Getting stamped, the act couldn't be simpler, yet they can give people so many complex feelings. I don't know about you, but at least to me. Looking back, traveling itself was not always fun nor safe. But there was always the sense of adventure and perhaps danger in every little town we arrived in. I remember, well, not looking down at the ground, not even looking further than one meter from myself just to avoid any 'shock.' I remembered starving, only because I just couldn't believe the odor which I smelled everywhere was actually from the restaurants. I also recall my insistence on finding a supermarket only to quench my thirst for home. While traveling, I was ill and barfy for weeks, I felt the scorching heat that literally stopped my breath, I cried on the roadside feeling so close to death that I could not stop shaking for over an hour.
Sound pretty horrible. But, would I ever want to be on the road again? The answer is 200% yes, and I wouldn't even waste a second to doubt. Yes, I have been through the bad parts as well as the good of traveling. But I am glad to say that I haven't been through them all. There are greater moments to come, and worse parts of the journey to be expected, too.
The traveling seed has somehow been planted and is growing inside me, there isn't a second that goes by that I'm not getting ready to lift my backpack and travel again. Traveling has changed me in so many ways. In ways only travelers would understand. If only you know what I meant.
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