I’m always raving about how great travel is and how everyone should do it, but I’ve realized that I’ve never really explained how much it has transformed my life. I guess it’s because I go back home and get into the routine of my everyday life and forget to write about this feeling I get.
Every trip I go on I have a moment when I realize “Holy shit, I made it. I’m here!” It’s usually when I’m doing something I NEVER thought I’d do, like having drinks with my girls on the Amalfi Coast while we reminisce, kayaking in Kauai, climbing waterfalls in Jamaica, sitting at a cafe in Paris drinking champagne with new friends 😉 , hot air ballooning in Cappadocia, window shopping in the red light district, smoking a spliff at Bob Marley’s house… and so many other really incredible things I’ve been fortunate enough to do. These moments take my breath away because they remind me that I can make my life whatever I want it to be by creating these moments over and over again.
These moments take my breath away because they remind me that I can make my life whatever I want it to be by creating these moments over and over again.
On this trip I’m staying in an Airbnb with a friend of a friend that moved to Holland a little over a year ago with her husband. They have a great place in a beautiful village called Abcoude about 30 mins from downtown Amsterdam. Today (Sept 23, 2016) I rode a bike to the train station in Abcoude and took a sprinter to Centraal Station. I had some plans that didn’t quite pan out and I don’t have to meet up with my friends til later so I decided to get lost for awhile.
I walked through a couple of neighborhoods and saw parents and kids ridding their bikes through the streets. Dutch people carry their whole lives on bikes. I’ve seen both men and women carrying up to 3 kids on their bikes, groceries, stuff for work and play. I mean think about all the shit we carry around daily. They literally do the same thing on a bike. It’s pretty impressive!
I found my way to what I can officially call my favorite Indian restaurant in Amsterdam. I came here with my friends last time I was in town and we grubbed. The food is still delicious and the service is still shitty. Clearly not much has changed. They really don’t deserve a shoutout but since it is my favorite and I will be back here’s the link. 🙄 Taj Mahal Indian restaurant; it’s by the Heineken Brewery. Free tip: don’t ask for ice. It pisses them off for some reason. lol
As I’m writing this, I’m sitting in a coffee shop by myself listening to Chance the Rapper – Smoke Break (I swear this was not planned lol) I’m thinking about my life and reflecting over my trip; cause that’s what you do on a smoke break right? I can’t help but be overflowing with gratitude. I had to go through a lot to get to this space. Not just the planes, trains and bicycles. But overcoming years of believing moments like this were out of reach for me.
Everything about traveling feels like freedom to me. I can go anywhere, do anything and be anyone I want to be. I get to choose what I will do and where I will go next. I know have options and I’m capable of adapting to a change in plans. Life is no different. I used to feel like I didn’t have any options because I didn’t want to feel the discomfort of change. But traveling made me crave it. I stopped taking life so seriously and allowed myself to actually enjoy it. I found the courage to make the changes I’ve always wanted to make, but was too afraid or comfortable to make. It was the best thing I ever did for me. The rest is history in the making. 😀