As I’m sitting in my hostel enjoying the last night in Europe before leaving for more adventurous endeavors I’ve been reflecting on what the biggest lessons of Europe have been so far and I’m finding an amazing theme. When I left I was so sure that this trip would only further my minimalistic lifestyle and desire to live a really simple life but ya know what the funny thing is? It’s actually doing the opposite. Now I’m not saying that I’m suddenly becoming materialistic but I’m definitely learning to appreciate what I have/had back home soooooo much more.
With that in mind, I’d like to give an Ode to those things I’ll never take for granted again. If you have them, I envy you from the bottom of my soul! If you’re someone gearing up for the world race and trying to look for advice on what to pack beyond tents, sleeping bags, and clothes, follow along!
1. American Sauces! Sure, to you, this might sound like a really funny thing to start the list but here’s the thing…. I’ve spent the last 3 months in countries where salad is not lettuce based but rather tomatoes and cucumbers and on top of that, they don’t use dressing. In those moments, there is absolutely nothing like some real ranch! A delicacy I haven’t seen since leaving on the race and I’d give anything for it. All I have to say is thank you God for finding a Ruby Tuesdays finally that had lettuce based salads with ranch, honey mustard, and then burgers with bbq sauce on them! Laugh all you will but when you go to buy BBQ sauce and it turns out to be marinara, those ribs you were so excited to eat just aren’t gonna be the same.
2. My own car. No for real. When you have to make the same 3 mile hike everyday for a month strait, you’d give anything for even a bicycle at the very least, if not your own car. Two days ago we walked close 3 miles with our 50 lbs packs on and our 20-30 lbs daypacks plus standing on a subway for an hour and by the end, it’s safe to say our bodies were doooooone. All that could have been a ten minute drive. Just.say.yes.
3. Real Alone Time. K here’s the thing…. I tend to be a pretty extroverted person but I think it’s safe to say that I get all my energy from alone time. That’s literally non existent on the race and if you are somehow getting it, you’re really fighting for it. I slept in my tent for the last month when there were indoor beds readily available just for the sake of having a 10 sq foot area that was all mine. I really miss wasting hours playing Assassin’s creed and just recharging and getting lost in my own little world. It’s a bigger deal than you’d think.
4. Hanging out with people of my choosing. This one sounds bad but I promise it’s not, it’s just getting past political correct christianese lingo. Doing the race doesn’t mean they put you on a team based off who you naturally click with as best possible friends. That’s not what we’re here for and we all accept that and work with whoever we’re given because God is good makes it happen/gives us supernatural grace for eachother. That being said, being around the same ppl 24/7 is grinding as is, especially if it’s not necessarily people you wouldn’t hangout with if you weren’t on a team with them. I miss being able to choose who I wanna hangout with and when. You may be catching onto a theme by now….things you should never be taking for granted back home.
5. Making money. This whole trip is about abandonment and I’m all about that! That being said, this is a blog about rawness and things I look forward to again and one of those is having a job and not feeling bad every time I have to take money out of my bank account. There was a time when I could blow $200 in a night and not even notice it so when you go from that to having a gut wrenching feeling over withdrawing $15 and a $30 overdraft fee is a major pitfall…well….you get the point.
6. Country music. Ya….I’m confused just as much as you are over this one but it’s the truth. Just heard some Luke Bryan and almost cried. We’re gonna move on now.
7. Having way too much stuff. Most of us just had to downsize due to our bags having to be 50 lbs for our flight tomorrow AND our day packs now having to be 15 lbs, a thing that sucks when your laptop alone weighs 10 lbs. The idea of a house full of stuff serving no other purpose than decorations is amazing right now. Now I loooove being a minimalist but this is a whole new extreme, even for me.
8. Salsa Dancing. Shout out to my Port Angeles crowd. I miss a consistent outing with a select crowd doing something crazy like dance nights. Yes please.
9. Real Coffee. When you come from a place of getting your 16 oz vanilla latte and hanging out in a coffee shop for hours upon hours on end, coming to the other side of the world and having a large coffee being the size of an espresso back home and there’s really no point in hanging out there anyways because well…it came out of a vending machine, it’s just a whole new world.
and last but not least….
10. Familiarity. The whole reason I picked this route was it’s the farthest outside of my comfort zone but I have to admit, going 3 months strait of having nothing I can really relate to is stretching beyond all compare. I miss the pacific northwest and anything that looks like it. I miss Astoria. I miss my longboard, I miss Micro Brews and American Spirits. I miss hippster girls and friday night football. I miss driving my car at crazy speeds at night because I know the road like the back of my hand. I miss going to church on Tuesdays, Fridays, and Sundays and knowing Ima get a hug from Dan and Tiff and make some weird joke with Jason followed by sweet talking Kassy and bantering with Robert.
Now all this being said, would I trade what I’m doing for the entire world????
Not in a million years
