two birds.

Two years of this gypsy life…

Two years of filling in documents with my parents’ address because it’s the only home that holds any sense of permanence for me any more.

Two years of slowly selling, storing and giving away the furniture that once filled my apartments, the clothes that once filled my closets, and the toiletries that once filled my vanity; only to keep what I can fit into the 65 liters I carry on my back.

Two years of watching what I used to consider the simple of questions of life – ‘where are you from?’ ‘what do you do?’ – increasingly grow to be the ones I find nearly impossible to answer in any sort of straightforward manner.

But there is one question unlike the others… One that has seemed to become easier for me to answer with clarity and certainty the further I find myself along this path:

“How do you travel?”

And make no mistake, I understand what they are actually asking.
I know what their logistical minds and numerical worries are trying to calculate, but the best answer I have for this question no longer comes from any sort of strategic or monetary realm.

How do I travel?

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It has taken me two years of uncovering, discovering and understanding to finally find my most honest answer..

I travel with purpose.
I travel with intention.
I travel with openness to all I have yet to understand in this life.

I travel with love; knowing that every beautiful person, place, and moment I am to encounter will help teach me to become a more joyous, more connected, and more compassionate person in this world.

I travel with gratitude; knowing that every challenging and heartbreaking person, place, and circumstance I am to experience will help me grow me into a stronger, more understanding and more patient person for this world.

I travel with goals:
To conquer all that I fear.
To expand my consciousness.
To become a better human being.

For two years these gypsy feet have purposefully brought this mind to lands where new cultures, new music and new languages were needed to be learned. Where new people, new ways of living and old histories were needed to be understood. This mind has been brought head to head with new scenarios where the skills of leadership, teamwork, communication and the belief in myself needed to be nurtured and grown.

For two years these gypsy feet have intentionally brought this body up mountains and over oceans, through rivers, jungles and deserts to teach me the lesson that we humans are capable of achieving so much more and able to push ourselves so much further than we could ever imagine. This body has been brought sole to soil with every version of beauty and abundance this planet has for us to infinitely love, appreciate and protect.

For two years, these gypsy feet have divinely brought this soul to people who have shown me that beyond our skin, the money that we have or the homes we live in; deeper than our struggles, mistakes or the scars we bear there is a kindred human spirit living a life so different but so parallel to mine. A life that longs to love and be loved. A life that is eager to share of their culture, of their unique selves, of their dreams and of their wisdoms. This soul has been brought heart to heart with teachers, brothers, and sisters…reflections of myself.

Two years ago, for the first time, I consciously placed myself in a world so entirely different from my own, with people so entirely different from all others I’ve ever known in hopes that it would all better me in the way that can only be achieved from outside of one’s comfort zone.

What I never expected was how deeply the effects of this way of traveling could imprint itself on me, how wide it could open my eyes to the world we live in and the ones beyond, and how insatiable the curiosities and addicting the lessons taught by life could be.

For two years I have traveled with purpose, intention, openness; with love, gratitude and consciousness in attempts to become the best version of myself that I can be…only to find this is a never-ending path on a never-ending journey. As long as there are new challenges to conquer, lessons to learn, new lands to explore and new people to love (and there always will be) so these gypsy feet will wander.