Along with self-knowledge the road has given me innumerable gifts of experience, from the mundane to the once-in-a-lifetime, from tragedy to triumph, and every point in between. It’s one thing to learn from these experiences, however. It’s another to learn what I’ve learned.
Just over one year ago, on March 21, 2016, I began this journey. It’s difficult for me to wrap my head around the concept that it’s only been that long.
They say we never forget our first time, and in my experience that maxim applies to more than just its colloquial uses for drugs and sex. For me at least, it applies to travel, as well.
I understand this now not just as a trip, a finite thing with defined boundaries and clear lines. This is the beginning of a time in my life, a phase, a place, an era.
I have discovered there is another side to solo long-term traveling that many blogs don’t cover. I call these issues “The Dark Side of Long Term Travel.”