Blog reader Judy writes:
“For a non-pet person, you do seem to enjoy the tapir’s company.”
Crazy, isn’t it?! I don’t even know who I am any more. Cozying up to tapirs and smooching alpacas.* The terrified-of-being-underwater me floating on a couple pieces of balsa wood in anaconda-infested waters, with nary a life jacket in sight. (Not that a life jacket would keep me safe from anacondas, but still…)
This proud Excel Spreadsheet Queen (my whole life is contained in spreadsheets, meticulously maintained and updated) hasn’t touched a spreadsheet for months. Chasing penguins, turquoise waters, and new cities is severely cutting into my spreadsheet maintenance time. The most perplexing change: I HAVE LOST MY APPETITE FOR DUNKIN’ DONUTS. I was so excited to see a DD in the Ecuador airport, I bought 3 donuts. (Eating half a dozen in one sitting wasn’t unusual for me). And then, I couldn’t even finish one. Who am I….What is happening to me…? Is an intervention in order?
Next thing you know, I’ll be throwing all caution to the wind, breaking my no-relationships rule (which has served me well for a quarter of a century), and having wild entanglements with people I meet along the way.
Oh wait. That did happen already. But I don’t kiss and tell, so what happens in South America, stays in South America… 😊
Six months into my grand adventure, I can confirm it’s true what they say about travel. It changes you.
*In my defense, I’ve never disliked animals, I just didn’t want to live with them. I prefer my animals in the wild.
9 responses to “Travel Changes You”
I want to be there with you – to feel so alive, engaged, curious, open and brave! So inspiring!!
Come join me, Chris! I think Colombia will be next on the itinerary.
We are so pleased that you are enjoying your filing gap year. We are being predictively here in N.Z. Re-packing and storing lots of our stuff we just shoved away last October. Now we have the time to do it properly. Also donated so much more stuff we will not be using when we get back. As we are still hoping to be in Istanbul in late October for the 1st of November sailing with Miray.
You are an eternal optimist, Hazel!
You crack me up…. i was in NY and Boston last week.. and there were Dunkin Donuts on every corner.. did I think of you … well as a matter of fact, yes ! We love your travels and tales.. and pictures of everything. I can’t wait to hear where you are going next!!!!
I hope I haven’t lost that DD sweet tooth forever. Maybe it’s just a temporary condition.
I hope we get to meet up in person sometime in the next few years. I want to experience the post-megatravel Basia.
We’ll have to make that happen. I’ll wear a pink carnation or some such, so you can recognize the new me! 🙂
Ha! I think I’d recognize you if I hadn’t seen you since school days. Funny how some people change a lot, others not so much.