Friday, January 20, 2017

This is freaky...slash...I DID IT!

Woah, woah, woah!! 

Like I'm a little bit speechless right now. 

Goosebumps! 

Am I over-reacting? 

Ok, perspective. Yesterday afternoon I was sitting at my desk thinking about this blog and past posts. Sometimes I like to travel down memory lane and I'll pick a tag and read through those posts and reminisce and marvel at the growth and journey I've been on. 

So, while daydreaming, I vaguely remembered writing a post when I started this blog 6 years ago (SIX YEARS AGO!) about my travel goals in the future. And GUYS! I literally wrote THIS a little over five years ago. 


Re-reading it again now, my eyes well up with tears. I feel these emotions because tonight I'm taking flight and literally going on my dream trip for two weeks. Two weeks in Italy! First stop is Venice, then on to Florence, and finishing off in Rome. While in Florence, I'll be taking a day trip to Tuscany and Pisa. I'm sharing this journey of a lifetime with one of my greatest friends as well, Ken. It's a bit surreal, but the excitement I'm feeling is unreal!

At the end of that 2011 blog post, I wrote: "So here I am, declaring to you that in the next 5 years I will live my dreams and travel (through Europe)." Ok. So I'm not traveling ALL OVER Europe. But I am doing what I set out to do and I'm taking that trip of a lifetime. The one I've been dreaming about since I was 13.

Amazing where life leads you. Yeah, I wrote that down in my blog - but a small part of me did it half knowing that I'd probably never follow through with it. You know what I mean? One of those BIG goals you say "I HAVE TO DO THIS!" but is it truly feasible? It's a big world out there and 5 years ago at the time when I wrote that blogpost, little ol' small town me was quite comfortable in my little ol' Fredericton home living my comfortable and familiar life. In fact, I still experience a little anxiety when it comes to traveling and the unknown. That "knots in your stomach" kind of feeling when you think you might get lost, lose a passport, miss a flight, do something wrong and piss off the locals.

But, those feelings haven't stopped me yet! There's too much world out there to see for me!

"I often hear of friends and acquaintances travelling and seeing what the world has to offer. Why can't I be one of those people?" Dear 2011 Melissa: You are!