I have always longed and lived for travel. It is a huge part of who I am. I love the adventures, the challenges, the lessons, the mistakes, the exploration, and the unknown aspects of travel. Most of all, I love living in the moment, something I find extremely difficult to do in my daily reality. I am either reminiscing about my previous journeys, or daydreaming about my next grand one. Travel has matured me in many ways, and has made me extremely open-minded. I love meeting new people upon my travels. Along the way I have befriended people from all walks of life, who have ideas and lifestyles completely different from my own. To be honest, in my everyday busy life, I probably wouldn't have given most of these fascinating people a second of my time. Money has never been, nor will it ever be, a priority in my life, and travel has made me realize this, even more so. If on my deathbed, I have 20$ in the bank, but have had a lifetime of travel experience, I will declare my time on earth a success.
Travel is obviously one of the great loves of my life, so I was quite surprised when I almost bailed out on this trip. I was having second thoughts about whether it was the right thing to do at this point in my life. I was experiencing cold feet, and felt like I could be doing something more worthwhile with my time. Over the past weekend, I had two signs that confirmed that the year ahead is the right decision for me.
While on the bus, I was sitting in front of two women in their early to late 70s. Both were dressed in bohemian clothes, and adorned with jewelry. They were strangers to each other, but got to talking, and I could not stop myself from eavesdropping. Both were avid solo world travellers, involved in third world causes, artists, and couldn't stand the idea of conformation or being permanently settled in one place. They admitted that they had, at tops, one year attention spans, and kept their worldly possessions in storage. The two of them both spoke of their mission to prove that one could travel at any age. I felt like a complete fool. At 27 years old, I often feel abnormal for not wanting security. After hearing the two older ladies talk about their passion for travel, the excitement of the upcoming year hit me. I wore a huge, stupid smirk on my face for the rest of the day.
Another sign of my hopeful year ahead came to me in a form of a butterfly. While on the same bus, a butterfly stopped by my window, and stayed for a good minute fluttering its wings, then left. While in the city a few hours later, the same color and species of butterfly appeared. I am not superstitious, and I wouldn't have thought anything of it, until the next day, after I returned home, the exact butterfly (same species, color, shape, and size) landed on my foot and stuck around for a bit. For fun, I decided to google the meaning of butterflies. This is what I found:
"Butterflies are a sign of good luck ahead. It means that if you are having doubts about something, you should explore it, take advantage of it, and be thankful for it, before it is too late. Something that you have longed or hoped for is about to come true. They represent creativity, freedom, joy, spirituality, romance, and change, as well as transformation from an old life to a new one."
I'm going on this trip for all its worth.
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