Preparations

   Went on a beautiful hike with a friend this last weekend and couldn't help but imagine the trudging and trekking and trundling I will be doing in just a few short months. Here are a few shots of the hike:

  

   In some ways the trip seems like forever away and in others it seems a little too close for comfort. In the mean time I am trying to keep myself entertained in small and inexpensive ways here at home. Today I am going to brave the rain and try to join a dragonboating team! Here is the link for anyone interested :)

http://www.castawaysdragonboat.com/

  I'll let ya know how it goes!

Adios,

Alex

Making Progress

The last few months have felt a steady building pressure surrounding this trip. When I first decided this was what I wanted to do I think I felt like it would never really happen. I spent weeks telling people about it, slowly making my intentions known to friends, family and even a few strangers. It amazes me how much the trip has evolved from my original thoughts on what it would be. A solo adventure, a glance at family history and a chance to open myself to a different way of thinking, a different way of living your life, a chance to experience something strange and new, and hopefully push myself forward so hard and fast that I would find myself somersaulting into a new version of myself. All of those things are still true and I still hope for but it has also become so much more... A chance to see some long lost friends I thought I might never have the chance to, and maybe less of a solo journey than I would have imagined.

I think that travel must be a little like having a baby. The second you tell someone about your intentions they become so excited for you and want to share all they know with you. It has been one of the best parts of sharing my news and also one of the most overwhelming. Everything from where I should go to how long I should be gone, to what kind of shoes to wear and whether or not toilet paper is a must. Where to stay, what places are most interesting and what could be left out. It's hard because I could spend a lifetime exploring these places but have such a limited time to do it. How will I decide what to do?! And then I just take a deep breath and try to remind myself that a lot of this trip is about letting go, allowing myself not to plan (every detail...) and be open to the experiences that are waiting for me.

The last couple weeks especially have made it all very real. First, I bought my ticket home, because why do things in order? Then two weeks later I bought my ticket from Toronto to Dublin. That made it REALLY real. Then I bought a map, a guide book (just for the heck of it), started researching shoes, connected with those long lost friends and made loose plans, managed to borrow a backpack that has seen some days on the road itself, it will be a well seasoned traveling companion I am looking forward to sharing some memories with. Then of course this blog!

So now I am feeling some very real excitement but also some very real nervousness. I think that is to be expected for someone who has never traveled alone before. I don't think it would be as exciting if I wasn't this nervous though :)

So here are some shots of my very real map and my new friend, the (not so) giant purple people eater!

Also! If any of you have any traveling advice, shoes you loved, places you wish you had stayed longer or things you couldn't imagine not seeing please let me know. I have an ambitious soul and I want to do everything I can to take it all in.

Au Revior

Alex

And Here We Are

Tonight I begin a foray into uncharted territory. Writing has long been something I have struggled with, especially writing I know others will see. Perhaps then this blog can help me push the boundaries of both my written word as well as my physical presence outside of the inter-web-verse.

*Lights come up on an average young woman, mid-twenties, behind counter in a coffee shop, eyes focused on something far far away, absent mindedly wiping the same spot on the counter over, and over, and over, and over.....*

Let me just preface (postface?) that with the fact that I actually love my job. I work in an amazing 24 hour coffee shop. I started off there 4 years ago as a lowly part-time graveyard barista and have worked my way up to become a full time salaried manager. The shop is vibrant and bustling and strange and wonderful. Full of sizzling emotions, passionate artists, babies being born (not mine) and lots and lots of really awesome awful puns,. My co-workers are all heartfelt supportive humans who are like celebrities to the many early morning/late night/somewhere in between creepies and creepets who patron our favorite grungy hangout (I say that with all the love in my heart -lets face it- most of us are creeps or creepets deep down). That being said I've been plugging away at this for a long time now and as most 20somethings realize, I don't really want to be a (insert food service job here) forever. Being a Taurus though I don't easily uproot myself, and so I decided to go on a trip. A trip that would mark the beginning of the next chapter of my life! The only question remained where? I had always wanted to go to New Zealand, but for some reason that didn't feel right. South America? I had the coffee passion and could go explore coffee farms, but I am bogged down in the coffee world now and need a break. I started thinking about family history, considered Greece for a flash (as I am half Greek) but I have always wanted to go with my sister and the type of trip I wanted to take was probably going to be more of a solo adventure. And like a great stein hitting my on the head I realized I wanted to go to Germany, my mother spent much of her life in Germany and Austria as a young girl, as well as her older siblings and I got it in my head that I wanted to go see the place they grew up. Thus, an adventure is born.

It has since grown into an insane western world adventure, my very loose itinerary looks so far like this

Portland --> Montreal --> Toronto --> St. Johns --> Dublin --> London --> Germany --> Austria --> Switzerland --> France --> Spain --> Portugal --> Spain --> LA --> Portland

Some of these places I don't foresee being in for more than a day (some of them even less than a day) but even so it is a lot to cram into 2 months and I am beginning to doubt my grasp of time and space. Either way, here is where I will do my best to document my wanderings and preparations for this mad endeavor. I have never been the best at grammar so do forgive any errors that make you grind your teeth or send me back to grade school. Bear with me as I gush about missing my cat, as I inevitably will do, he is darling to me and I already miss him.

And as for the name, my plan is to go here and there, to hear their stories and learn about their lives, who ever they may be. Coupled with my terrible grammar I thought it surprisingly clever! Til next time.

Auf Widersehen

Alex