A Shared Experience

There's nothing quite like traveling. The new places, the unfamiliar cultures and languages, the struggles with navigation, communication, and basic comfort that you encounter every day. And then there's the growth! The reality that each and every day you're doing something you've never quite done before, in a place you've (probably) never been, with people you've just met.







The information and ideas that you come into contact with are sometimes brand new to you, and more often than not, change your way of looking at something, or inform your perspective. Simple things become difficult, and you are constantly questioning things you thought you knew. Boundaries are pushed (in every way imaginable) and your comfort zone expands drastically- mostly because it has to.

Having traveled in the past, both alone, and with my family, these are all things I was expecting to find when we started out this time, and (for the most part) things I was looking forward to. But I never anticipated the extent to which I would enjoy them differently this time around, simply for doing it with my partner. 

It's one thing to explore a beautiful new place and learn about it all on your own. It's entirely different, and in many ways, more spectacular, to do it with the person you love. To miss a train, get lost, or feel frustrated is somehow easier with someone to lean on. 

To meet an interesting person in a foreign place and become fast-friends is an amazing thing to get to experience- and to be traveling with someone with whom I get to share those experiences, those struggles, those memories, is more terrific than I could have ever anticipated. 

Wandering, getting lost, and laughing our way through new places is far more amusing and enjoyable with Sean, than I think it would be by myself, and I'm so very happy that we're sharing this adventure.