Leaving home…
While on my journey, many people called me lucky: “You’re so lucky to be doing what you’re doing!” I never liked that. Hearing that feels like it just happened; it fell on my lap. I had no control or say in the matter. It could’ve been anybody. But it’s more than that. I’m not one to say that luck didn’t play a part. There were many opportunities that did fall on my lap without any action of my own. But it was me that took action and capitalized on those opportunities. Instead, I’d like to consider myself fortunate. Very, very fortunate. I find this view also more inspiring for others. You don’t have to sit and wait for things to happen to you; for luck to strike. Just see the opportunities you do have around and think: what can I do with them?
It really doesn’t feel like I learned new things on this incredible journey, but more like deeply internalized what I already knew: be kind; be thankful; appreciate the things you have and that make you… YOU. Focus not on those that have it better than you but try and help those that do not. This can be done just by holding a door for someone behind you or simply smiling. We all know this. But like a saying goes: Nothing ever happens until it happens to you. It is then, when you experience that which you thought you knew, that you may truly understand what you had previously learned.
The original journey’s plan was for it to last six months. Then seven ate nine:) Now, I find myself with an opportunity that some would say just fell on my lap. Though I would argue I worked years for it! Still, it seems my journey has come to an end and I will return to my old life. I will return to NYC and stop being a wondering fool and start a job on March 4th. I will no longer use my favorite and never failing pick-up line: “Hi, I’m Bobby. I’m a homeless and unemployed millionaire (in select countries around the world).” I didn’t actually say out loud the parenthesis part! Oh, and when I say ‘never failing…’ it never worked:) I eventually wanted the journey to be for a full year once I hit month 9, but, opportunities don’t always wait for you, and I couldn’t let this one pass me by without capitalizing on it. And seriously, I was only 15 days shy from completing the full year, so, can I just round up?
So what now?! What happens to the blog that I barely wrote in?! What happens to the Instagram account I created solely to share photos of the trip and my whereabouts?! Well, I’m actually a pretty private person and yet, I came to enjoy selecting pictures to post representing the place I was in and writing the monthly recaps in the blog where I talk about… ew… feelings. As far as Instagram is concerned, I’m going to do “throw-back” pictures of the places I’ve been prior to the trip. In the blog, I think I’m going to continue writing from time to time about various topics. It feels good when people read my shit. Even if I barely know who actually reads this damn thing. But I find it useful to articulate my thoughts and feelings instead of believing I know myself. So, even while employed, I will try and write on whatever I have an interest in, as of the time of the writing. There may still be more traveling stories to come, but not exclusively.
If you have read my blog at any point in the past and you’re reading this now: thank you. If you’ve noticed, I almost never gave recommendations or links to what I was doing. I never meant for this to be one of those blogs. It slowly became something for me to give people a feeling of what it was like to be in the journey with me. Yes, I covered costs because that’s an integral part of making this happen, and the most frequently asked question, but I mostly wanted you to feel what it would be like to be there with me, if at least a little. Thank you for spending a few minutes of your day reading what I had to say.
All things come to an end and sometimes it’s best when you end them while they’re still good. I’m happy to be suspending – not ending, my traveling around the world. It was scary to let go of my safe and secure life to go travel the world. In an ironic twist, I’m now scared to let go of this incredible freedom and start a new kind of adventure. One, in an office. It is not sarcasm. I’m genuinely excited for the new challenges my career will bring to my life. I am empowered to be doing this because I want to. Not because I have to. But you know, I have been eating steak for almost a year. It is time I eat some veggies!
Returning home…
BobbyGTimes 