My “Forest Gump” moment:
Remember that scene in the movie where Forrest has been running for 3 years and all of a sudden he stops and says “I’m, pretty tired. Think I’ll go home now”. Well that is exactly what happened after I wrapped up my amazing journey through India. I had a sign from God that it was time for me to finish my trip right at that moment in time. If you don’t remember that scene, here is the clip link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pKKmzmeU5-0
So long story short, I traveled for 5 months, 3 days and 23 hours. I finished my trip 10 days short, I was supposed to head onto Singapore after India to see my dear college friend, Jihann, and then end the trip in Indonesia on October 27. I am blessed with a great travel agent (who has doubled as a travel psychologist, LOL) I called in tears on October 17 about ending my trip short, amazingly, he was able to get me a flight home within 4 hours of our phone call and he did it all in less than an hour with no extra cost to me, he even got me a partial refund.
India was such an amazing journey and I knew that if I continued on with my travels I would not appreciate the beauty that Asia has to offer (but mark my words, I will back to Asia soon.) There is no way for me to express how emotionally moving India was for me so I am not even going to try to put it into words but I will say it has forever changed me. It has been my dream for the last 10 years to see this beautiful country and I know that it was the first of many trips I will experience to India, thanks to the ladies of Leadership International for this experience.
New Delhi, India
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| Spice and food market in New Delhi, India. For those of you who know me you know my favorite part of travel is visiting the local markets. |
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| Community clinic in the slum area of Delhi. |
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| Slum area we toured with a community health clinic that is bringing hope and inspiration to the people living there. I hope to be involved with this clinic and volunteer my time there in the future. |
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| This sikh mosque provides 6,000 meals a day for locals, got a private tour of their kitchen. |
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| One of the many educational programs at the community health clinic in New Delhi, India. |
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| The beautiful Taj Mahal, built in Agra, India between 1631-1648. |
Jaipur, India
Cochin, India
Travel wrap up after “My Paris Life” concluded in September:
I got to spend my last week in Paris with my two dear friends Shayda, who, for lack of better words at the moment is like family to me and Holland who is simply the little sister I never had. So basically, I ended my time in my favorite city with two amazing friends.
Amsterdam, Holland
Holland and I headed to Amsterdam via Eurail from Paris, big thanks to Shayda for wrapping up my Paris apartment business and waking up at 4:30am to see us off. Holland had to visit Holland since she shares the namesake. Also, we had to visit my amazing friend Anne, who was the best hostess and friend taking us in for a week. Amsterdam is like living in a Hallmark movie, everything is beautiful and the people are amazing.
Vienna, Austria
Holland and I hopped on the train from Amsterdam to spend two amazing days in Vienna. Lots of lessons learned on this train journey, it was 12 plus hours via train but lots of funny stories along the way. I left my new Long Champ travel bag (the only thing I allowed myself to purchase for myself in Paris) on the train in Germany…..it had all of my makeup, medicines for India, day planner, etc. in it but I guess that Long Champ bag was not meant for me to own. First order of business was purchasing all the basic toiletry items in Vienna, so Holland and I spent the first hour of our time in Vienna at the grocery store, next we caught a cab the “.2 miles” (another long story here, let’s just say we thought it was farther away than that) to our Vienna apartment and I accidentally left all my purchased items in the cab. Again, I had to buy toiletry items for a 3rd time the next day……it was pretty funny though. The most amazing part of the trip was seeing an opera at the Vienna State Opera.
Mykonos, Greece
Wow, the Greek islands are amazing and we got a great deal on an apartment in Paradise beach since it was end of the season. The trip to the island was not all rainbows and sunshine though, we woke up on the 4th day to torrential rains and cold weather. The most hilarious part was that it was literally raining in our room, I looked over at Holland at said “at least it is not raining in my bed”….low and behold, it started raining in my bed through the roof. Holland rushed around putting buckets and glasses under the leaks but we soon realized that our entire room was flooding. The property managers were great; they put us in an upgraded apartment free of charge. See photos below:
One of the highlights of this portion of the trip was swimming in the Aegean Sea in Greece listening to my new favorite song http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akhmS1D2Ce4 (it is mostly my new favorite song because I was forced to listen to it all day on repeat for 9 days because the club below the apartment blared their music, lol, how very Euro of me). My travels with Holland in Mykonos will be a memory I cherish forever, we hit almost every beach on the island thanks to our excellent driver, Holland. I did not think I could learn anything from a 23 year old friend but Holland proved me wrong, sometimes I think she is more mature than me, I will explain this more later on in my “lessons learned” section of the blog. But for starters she is much better at driving a stick shift than me even though I grew up driving tractors on a ranch.
Sorry to disappoint but this was Not an “Eat, Pray, Love” Trip Y’all:
I got a lot of “Eat, Pray, Love” comments and jokes about my trip before leaving and took them all with a grain of salt. I did not do the Italy or Bali part this time around….. SO THERE. This was more like a cooking/exploring new career options, living out my travel dreams and self acceptance trip. We all travel for different reasons and I cannot explain everything I have been through in the last two years, what I do know is that I felt a calling from God to quit a great job and go on this journey.
I am not sure what the future holds for me but God does and I am continuing to live according His Will, enjoying every day He has given me and excited about what He has in store for me in the future. Blessings to my family and friends. Love you all and thank you for your support.
Jesus said, Go; it shall be done for you as you have believed.
—Matthew 8:13
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| Jeep ride up to Amber Fort in Jaipur, India. |
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| Amber Fort |
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| Amber Fort |
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| View out the window of Amber Fort |
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| View out window of Amber Fort |
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| Making Naan at one of the local restaurants, yum. |
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| This beautiful and sweet Indian woman teaching me how to roll the bread and cook. |
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| Making some local Indian bread, thanks to my training at Le Cordon Bleu. |
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| Snake charmer, awesome. |
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| Learned how to do henna artwork on the hand, lots of fun. |
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| Purchased a Sari at Easy Day(India Walmart) and I have no shame about visiting Walmart in India...picked this up for $4. A beautiful local helped me put this on, took about 30 minutes. |
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| Beautiful resort called Kumarakom. |
Travel wrap up after “My Paris Life” concluded in September:
I got to spend my last week in Paris with my two dear friends Shayda, who, for lack of better words at the moment is like family to me and Holland who is simply the little sister I never had. So basically, I ended my time in my favorite city with two amazing friends.
Amsterdam, Holland
Holland and I headed to Amsterdam via Eurail from Paris, big thanks to Shayda for wrapping up my Paris apartment business and waking up at 4:30am to see us off. Holland had to visit Holland since she shares the namesake. Also, we had to visit my amazing friend Anne, who was the best hostess and friend taking us in for a week. Amsterdam is like living in a Hallmark movie, everything is beautiful and the people are amazing.
Vienna, Austria
Holland and I hopped on the train from Amsterdam to spend two amazing days in Vienna. Lots of lessons learned on this train journey, it was 12 plus hours via train but lots of funny stories along the way. I left my new Long Champ travel bag (the only thing I allowed myself to purchase for myself in Paris) on the train in Germany…..it had all of my makeup, medicines for India, day planner, etc. in it but I guess that Long Champ bag was not meant for me to own. First order of business was purchasing all the basic toiletry items in Vienna, so Holland and I spent the first hour of our time in Vienna at the grocery store, next we caught a cab the “.2 miles” (another long story here, let’s just say we thought it was farther away than that) to our Vienna apartment and I accidentally left all my purchased items in the cab. Again, I had to buy toiletry items for a 3rd time the next day……it was pretty funny though. The most amazing part of the trip was seeing an opera at the Vienna State Opera.
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| Night at the Vienna State Opera. |
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| Touring the Palace in Vienna. |
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| Mozart Memorial in Vienna. |
Wow, the Greek islands are amazing and we got a great deal on an apartment in Paradise beach since it was end of the season. The trip to the island was not all rainbows and sunshine though, we woke up on the 4th day to torrential rains and cold weather. The most hilarious part was that it was literally raining in our room, I looked over at Holland at said “at least it is not raining in my bed”….low and behold, it started raining in my bed through the roof. Holland rushed around putting buckets and glasses under the leaks but we soon realized that our entire room was flooding. The property managers were great; they put us in an upgraded apartment free of charge. See photos below:
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| The flood started off small but later....... |
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| Our entire room flooded and it was raining over my bed, LOL. |
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| Visiting the "little Venice" of Old Town Mykonos. |
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| One of our favorite restaurants. |
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| Church in old town Mykonos. |
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| Sunset dinner, gorgeous. |
I got a lot of “Eat, Pray, Love” comments and jokes about my trip before leaving and took them all with a grain of salt. I did not do the Italy or Bali part this time around….. SO THERE. This was more like a cooking/exploring new career options, living out my travel dreams and self acceptance trip. We all travel for different reasons and I cannot explain everything I have been through in the last two years, what I do know is that I felt a calling from God to quit a great job and go on this journey.
I am not sure what the future holds for me but God does and I am continuing to live according His Will, enjoying every day He has given me and excited about what He has in store for me in the future. Blessings to my family and friends. Love you all and thank you for your support.
Jesus said, Go; it shall be done for you as you have believed.
—Matthew 8:13
