One minute, I was sitting in a cold old cottage in Clara, Ireland, and the next minute, my mind was racing to my future…what would happen? But most of all: What will I miss?
I received an email on the 8th of November telling me to call someone that had been bugging me to go back to Alaska; my main concern was to travel until I was over tired, and I had finally gotten there; my body was breaking down slowly at first, but then, I began deteriorating quickly, I couldn’t eat more than once a day if I wanted to…I was cold all of the time, I was actually losing hair! It was time to leave, and I knew it, but without money, what would I do?
So I called the person that emailed me, as he had to me to do. Upon answering the phone, he immediately gave me info in which to buy a ticket to Oregon…I didn’t even ask, and would have never asked in the first place…but since it had been put out on a platter, why not?
I had been having recurring dreams by this time that I was about to get my last ride if I had kept going…I’m sure it was my subconscious playing against me, but something told me it was time to go, especially because this dream had me held up…and in it, something was happening that had made me so scared, I could only inhale quick short breaths, but could not force a scream.
It was time to go…
So I booked a ticket that would have me flying out that Tuesday, the 12th, from Dublin. I got a surprisingly cheap ticket for less than 500$ from STAtravel, and took it as fate.
I arrived in Portland, Oregon at 6:30 p.m. on the 13th, awestruck that I had made it home alive, I guess it all didn’t really hit me until the plane touched down upon arrival in Chicago, my first step on American soil in nine months…I survived a great ordeal, made the best of it, and was able to travel through several countries in Europe, somewhat safely…living off a couple Euros or Pounds a day.
I lived through the domestic slavery, Turkish water…from the tap, Gezi Park Protests in Istanbul, Turkey, through the protests in Sofia, Bulgaria, over 11,000 km hitchhiking, numerous Romanian truck drivers who harassed me, sleeping in random places, divine kindness from SEVERAL strangers, a few days without food, a lightening storm on the island of Lido, just outside Venice in a tent with metal poles, stomping on my dirty laundry while I was in the shower, just to at least semi-wash it…two torn and cheapo ruck sacks, I made countless friends, became weary of a particular country, and anything in it, lit my hand on fire, made the tabloids in Slovakia…
…Did at least one thing I had never done each week…
My faith in humanity is much greater, I now know that I can survive and assimilate to nearly any situation, I have had the trip of a lifetime, and I DO NOT regret one moment of it, ESPECIALLY the domestic slavery…if that had never happened to me, I would have never accomplished all that I had, never learned to entertain myself while sitting for countless hours on the sides of roads…
As I had said earlier: If someone told me last year that I would be sitting in a random field somewhere in Italy hitchhiking, I would have NEVER believed them!
Thank you, God, for everything you have given me, the good and the bad experiences, and for this crazy life that I can proudly accept without hesitation.
 |
| Outside Dublin, Ireland Nov. 11th, 2013 |
No comments:
Post a Comment