I always get really sentimental when things end; but in a totally inane way. I got sad when I took my last United flight as a platinum member, I got sad when I skied my last run of the day at Vail, I got sad when I got in a cab in Denver for my last 4am trip to the airport this year, etc. You get the point.

It’s been a little over a month since I have been back stateside, and it has been one of the hardest things I’ve done yet. The culture shock of coming “home”, is much more than when I left. I don’t really know where to start…

It’s been exactly 2 months since my last post, and for that, I apologize. For whatever reason, after Simon and I evacuated Russia/Mongolia and got back to the joys of Southeast Asia…I just stopped writing.

Last time I wrote I professed how amazing Russia was. After traveling east through the rest of Russia, I am opting to modify (how about update?) my original opinion.

The world may seem like a scary place on TV, but you should get out here and see it…it’s perfect.

Fuck. Even though the view looks like this, saying goodbye is nearly impossible.

I’ve never really felt homesick because I’ve never really felt at home anywhere. I have had lots of great friends and enjoyed a lot of places that I have lived, but I don’t feel like I really belong anywhere. Well……now I do. I belong on the road. But for the first time, I’m homesick. For Chicago summer. For Colorado 14’ers. For friend’s weddings. For music festivals. But most of all, I’m homesick for being a part of someone else’s crazy stories.

I’ve been off the grid for a while now. In Asia it meant I was having a really fun time but lately it has meant that I’ve grown used to traveling and what I’m doing doesn’t seem so novel anymore…it’s just my life.

Backpacking Europe is fucking weird. I have been using everything I have learned to try to get into the groove of traveling solo out here but I can’t and it boils down to one thing: the people backpacking Europe suck.

I wrote a massive post yesterday waiting for the bus to Munich but Tumblr lost it. Awesome. I’m less motivated today so here is the short summary. I’ve been in Germany for about a week now and it has been great - but the total opposite of solo backpacking.

I’m off to the start the biggest journey of my life and I’ve never been happier.

Stephen King is the only author I have read (save a few books here and there) since I was 13. Most people think he is a horror novelist, but his best works are far from that. 

Over the past year or so I’ve become really good at saying goodbye to things: my job, my Chicago apartment, my comfortable lifestyle, my possessions, my sanity, and my need for hot showers. The one type of goodbye I haven’t gotten any better at is goodbyes to friends, both old and new.

I landed at DEN last Tuesday and realized how much I don’t want to be sedentary in the states, even for a little while. I had an inkling that I didn’t want to stick around and wanted to get back on the road, but my friend Emily made me realize that I need to keep traveling…sooner rather than later.

It’s my last day in SE Asia and I’m struggling with summing up my trip, but I will try. Back home in both Chicago and Denver I felt like life was happening to me - I didn’t feel alive. Out here I have felt like I’ve lived two entire lifetimes.

I’ve been gone for a month as of today, but I feel like I have lived a lifetime out here - in a good way.

Headed out this morning to dive Hin Daeng and Hin Muang. It is supposed to be some of the best diving in the world and the best in Thailand.

I have read cheesy Pinterest boards and quotes on Facebook and other annoyingly vague blog articles about travel that say something along the lines of “Just Go.” They feel fake and cliche and all those other words used to describe something inauthentic.

My time in Laos is ending tomorrow and it’s been the best time on my trip so far because of our great crew. There are 8 of us from Canada, Australia, New Zealand, The Netherlands, and France.