Dos

I am writing this post in the apartment Martin and Andrea, a wonderful couple I met on my Iceland hike, in Augsburg, Germany jamming out to FM 4 internet radio station and a belly full of M&M’s. Because what is the point of blogging if you cant snack during.

Truly, the two month mark for my trip caught me completely off guard. Month two was entirely different from my first month but the time passed equally quickly. But while the time has passed quickly, I can also hardly believe that I have fit so much into such a small amount of time. To think that I was in Maastricht, Netherlands when I wrote my post on my first month and have since travelled countless miles through five countries is really difficult to wrap my head around and I was there for thw whole thing!

I know that my blog has fallen off recently and I do apologize for that, but the past month has been far from dull. I saw some of my best friends in thw entire world and The Phantom of the Opera in London, urban camped for two nights under a bridge along the Seinne in Paris, explored a Moorish castle in Portugal, swam in the Mediterranean off the coast of Spain, hiked in the Pyrenees, grew my family by five in Lyon, and had litre after litre of beer in Augsburg. The past month has been incredible for me and I love my choice to go on this journey more each day.

When I was staying with my host family, the Segneri’s, I was present for their ‘high, low’ dinner table conversation and I will use the same format to relate what my life has been like the past month.

High
I fucking love traveling. Even before this trip, I had been so blessed in the traveling I had done and now I do it 24/7. I have already doubled the number of countries I have been to and have discovered so much about myself and the world. The sense of accomplishment that comes with each new town explored, each train successfully caught, and each stranger turned friend is what keeps me going. While this month wasn’t nearly as physically intense or remote as my first, it posed an entirely new challenge in navigating urban environments that I admittedly was not the best prepared for. It has been a blast though!

Low
Traveling is fucking exhausting. I dont think I ever been so consistently tired both mentally and physically. Mentally, it is a bit defeating to leave a city right when I start to become comfortable in it and there have been times I struggled with homesickness. On top of that, plans for 2015 weighed very heavily on my mind for most of this month. I love the freedom that my trip and lifestyle has brought me, but I do find myself distracted by what my next step is quite often. Physically, the last month hasnt been as demanding, but for some reason my body handled walking through rough mountain trails much better then it has paved city streets. My hips and back, which have always been tight, are now worse then they have ever been despite a rigorous and consistent stretching routine. I also increased the amount of food I eat (losing 12 pounds in the first month had me a bit spooked to be honest) and have gained back 6 of the 12 pounds but I think I am beginning to feel the effects of a prolonged diet that lacks diversity and nutrients. I am far from malnourished so please do not worry and I am taking steps to reverse the trend.

So that is my high/low for the month. What is yours?

Money Makes the World Go Round, Dammit
A big difference in the past month from the first month of my trip is the amount of change that has happened to my itinerary. While the general direction hasn’t changed, a lot of the stops were cut out due to the time and cost they represented. While time is far from the main concern of those two, I definitely felt the cumulative effects of my nonstop, nomadic lifestyle in earlier weeks and therefore slowed down (but that is a relative statement) my progress so I saw less places for longer periods of time. This decision is a double edged sword. It meant I was able to explore Lisbon, Malaga, Lyon, and Augsburg much deeper then I originally would have but also that stops like Porto, Barcelona, and Marseilles went entirely unexplored. My hand was forced more by my wallet then by my watch, though. Money is tight. I can sit here and make excuses about train reservations and exchange rates all I want but at the end of the day Europe is much more expensive then I was expecting, even with the style of travel I am doing.
But I refuse to let that bother me and, instead of focusing on what I had to cut out and didnt get to do, I am choosing to learn from the situation, be happy that I was able to manage the situation and get through it, and realize that I was still able to do extremely cool, once of a lifetime experiences that I would never have done had I stuck with the original plan.
Besides, I do have a weird sense of pride in my ability, however forced it was, to let go of the plan I had made to adapt to my present circumstances.

What’s Next?
Great question. Right now, 2015 is more up in the air then it was when I wrote about it a month ago. Thats okay, though. Dont worry, you’ll be the first people to know outside of those who hear my gleeful bursts of joy whenever I make a decision. Because odds are, I will be insanely excited not just about the opportunity but also about finally making a decision.
As for the next month of my trip, it will have a lot of great things in it! It’ll be my last month with the Eurail pass and I will be spending most of my time working my way Southeast towards Istanbul. On my way there I will have a week in Czech Republic with Sara, see a third friend playing professional sports in Europe, go to a Halloween party, explore Poland’s Holocaust history, reunite with dear friends in Budapest, and go hiking in Croatia! This itinerary is pretty solid, as all of these things have been at the top of my list since day 1 and are highly anticipated! Of course I am open to spontaneous adventures in between but that is a solid skeleton.

More to come soon!
All my love.