Addicted to the Unknown

The most amazing thing about traveling isn't the new foods you try, the people you meet, or the mountains you climb. It's actually the risks you take to experience all of them. You become a different person, strap on your hiking boots, take rides from strangers, show up in an unknown city alone. Sometimes you will meet a middle-aged man from England trying to escape a nasty divorce during a tropical storm. Or sometimes you will hitch a ride on the back of a tractor. And after you settle in a place for a while, you will meet more people willing to drop everything to hear your story. Of course you can't remember every person, every conversation, but each one shapes you in a way you might never know. And then there are the people who change your life so deeply, so immediately, you can't quite remember how your mind worked before. Remember these people. Remember the Brit and the nine hour journey you took to arrive in that town. Remember the farmer who gave you a ride on his tractor and how you weren't quite sure how to get home. These are the memories you will think about in the middle of a cold, rainy day when you're back home. Somehow, being on your own in an unknown land puts a little risk into your life. This risk leads you to have an amazing, life-changing journey. But then again, this might not work for everyone. I am, afterall, addicted to the unknown.