"All who wander are not lost..."

My first journey across an ocean has come to an end, Ive been back in Canada for 4 months.   Sometimes it feels like just yesterday and other times it feels like it was a  lifetime ago.   My dream of traveling was just a dream until 2009 when I took my first trip to Mexico.  Over the course of the next 2 years I went back to Mexico, Las Vegas twice, and Hawaii once.  It was in Hawaii that I realized I wanted more out of my life, to start making my dreams a reality.   I wasn't unhappy as such but in the back of my mind I knew that I was stuck in a rut. I wasn't living, I was existing.  I want it all. I want to seize every opportunity, take risks, and truly take in everything the world has to offer.   So a few months after returning from Hawaii I bought a round trip ticket to Asia. Few months after I was off on the journey of a lifetime. I discovered new cultures, tasted different cuisines, saw things that will forever be etched in my heart, met people who changed me and how I see the world, challenged myself whether it was using the washroom or navigating a foreign city, and I finally got to see what goes on, on the other side of the world rather than just daydream about it. Before Asia if you asked me who I was I would have told you what I did for work, where I grew up, etc. I thought this was who I was.  Now if you ask me who I am, you'll get a much broader answer.  I didn't even know who I was before Asia, traveling helped me have a better understanding of me.  Now taking a line from Oprah here are a few things I know for sure: -People are the same everywhere -Getting there is 1/2 the fun -Life or your plans don't alway work out the way you want, so relax, let go and just go with it, have faith because if it should have, it would have. -Trust your instincts -Take risks, chase dreams because "you only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough." And a few of my favorite things: Street food, hot weather, the most comfortable walk ever, beaches, meeting one of my  kindred spirits Sabrina, full moon party, Bangkok, fire shows, Tuk tuk's, locals, temples, bus journeys, hearing "it's all part of the experience." "The world is a book and those who do not travel only read a page."