-Traveling With 4 Girls-
The most common question before we left America "Are you Nervous?"
Of course I was nervous, we all were. Honestly though, I don't think any one of us had an idea of what the next three months would consist of. In fact, We avidly thank the passer-bys who vocally express how well they think we travel together, we greatly appreciate the compliments handed to us.
Here is the truth;
Just because we are on a different Continent does not mean we are always confident, In fact it is quite the opposite. We have been thrown out of our small town comfort zones, into different time zones, foreign languages, new cultures, currencies, sides of the car...Each day we are retaining an excessive amount of information, while standing out like four sore thumbs in a crowd. Whether it be skin color, whiney midwestern accents or oversized cowboy hats we place on our heads?
=
When traveling, the roads are never smooth for longer than a few hours at a time...if so you might as well check in to the nearest over-priced double decker bus, empty your wallets at the nearest kiosk, and post up with your canon rebel behind a chain linked fence with a group of hungry tourists.
NO THANKS
On the road less traveled, the 3 D's happen often
(Dirt,Dead-Ends, and Development)
Traveling together has been similar to jumping into a long-term relationship.
You have to trust, compromise, choose your battles,
Set aside selfish habits, practice patience, and become aware of the needs of not just three as a whole but each individual.
Feelings get hurt, and even if you "swear to god" you did not intention to hurt one another. Well sucks, you did. At this moment, you can either apologize and accept that your words or actions affected another person poorly OR you can deal with a bone shuttering silence from the inside of a car, bus, train, plane, hostel, hotel, restaurant, club by not one but 3 woman because we all know better than to get involved into a two man stand.
"Sorry"
I mean lets be honest, We would all rather have a stellar time together than let our stubborn behavior get in the way of a beautiful city we've never been in, existing in a country we once wished slept to dream of.
-smirks-
I can not even begin to recall the instances we forgot our phones or wallets on top of cars, in fields of sheep, in nun convents, on busses, in taxis, restaurants, shops, parks etc.
PANIC ATTACK:
At this moment of alarm we all drop what we are doing and pull together, take deep breaths and become a search team that quite certain could recover an Amber Alert child within 30 minutes.
Because when one person loses their shit, so do the other 3 and none of us
want to deal with tears or histeria of a missing child wallet.
Did I mention the lack of privacy...because there is ((NONE))
We shower together, sleep together, eat together, cry together, share sickness, tear, fears, beers, laughs, anxiety, happiness, nerves, tinder dates, shirts, shoes, underwear, makeup, money, decisions, periods, conversations, concerns, music, memories, ideas, irritation.
(The lists goes on)
We have our similarities but we are very much opposites in many ways; within the first week of traveling together we came to the realization that even though "Four" we are all now "One" traveling seemelessly throughout the world, learning to fall in love with one another the way we are falling in love with the places we encounter;
Regardless, we have one undeniable common denominator...A profound yearn to travel.
--
Rediscovering patience, selflessness, and how to properly communicate along the way.
while I sit and write down these thoughts in the other room, even though I hate to admit it, I actually kind of miss you guys...
(Happy One month on the road Ladies)
November 11, 2015
