Friday, July 11 (Casares, Spain & Dorset, England) – I have spent about a third of my travels in Spain.  34 nights to be exact.  Even though I visited about 14 different regions and cities and never stayed in one place long enough to truly settle in, Spain feels like home and I am sad to leave. 

I already wrote a post about Taking experiences home with me from this trip, and a big part of that is continuing to practice my Spanish.  I also plan to add some Spanish influence into my cooking which leads me into the next of my three areas of thought before coming home:  new projects and goals.

I've realized a bunch about myself during my travels, such as different activities that I enjoy, what I would like to learn and what makes me calm and happy.  So instead of checking these off some kind of list, I want to make sure that I take care of myself by taking part in these projects, activities and goals when I return home.

• Cooking - From paella to pulpo, I have tasted so many delicious local delicacies on this trip, many of which I would love to attempt to recreate at home.  I have also been inspired by different flavor and ingredient combinations that I haven't seen before.  As someone who lives alone in a studio apartment, I have been subject to too many take-out meals because of their ease and variety.  But my first goal when arriving home is to learn how to cook properly, healthily and diversely.  I have even collected recipes from different people and places along the way and want to post them as a new section within the blog!  If you have any easy, tasty, healthy recipes to share - particularly those from other cultures - please send them my way and I may post them!  Stay tuned.

• Apartment cleanse - If I was able to live for three months out of one suitcase, I certainly don't need all the stuff that is filling my closet and drawers at home.  I didn't buy too many souvenirs, but I did get a couple of things that require hanging - on walls or hangers - so I will need to do a bit of redecorating when I come home.  But more than that, I want to dedicate some time to going through everything in my closet (luckily it isn't very big) and get rid of half of my stuff.  Clutter is not good for my sanity and I would like to make sure my home is a place of calm and comfort!  So, if anyone is interested in a clothing swap or NYC-style garage sale, let me know and maybe we can get something organized!

• Even more active activities - We already know how much I love horseback riding and boxing (both of which I was able to take part in on this trip), so part one of this goal is to do more of that.  Riding is particularly challenging because it requires a big time commitment and is not cheap.  But while I am in between jobs, I will actually have more time to spend in transport to and from the barn, so I would like to make this a priority.  Also, on this trip I tried flying a glider, hiking, hot air ballooning, and camping.  I loved some of these more than others, but overall I loved the thrill of trying something new and exciting.  I'd love to continue this with different activities, and some that come to mind are rock climbing and maybe sailing!  Anyone care to join me?

(April 28, 2014) - Yea… so this happened.  I had Marta’s apartment keys while she was at work my last day in London.  I spent the whole day walking and exploring and finally got home to take a shower and take advantage of her washing machine (score!).  After my shower, most of my clothes were in the wash so I was just chilling in my underwear and sweatshirt, checking my flight information for the next leg of my trip (Spain).

Around 7:30 I hear Marta buzz the front door to the building (picture a brownstone or townhouse where there is a front door and then an apartment on each floor).  Since she lives on the ground floor, about 10 feet from the front door I figured I’d just run over quickly in my underwear to let her in.  So I did.  But her apartment door closes automatically and seconds later, before I could run back and catch the door, it closed!  Yup.  Locked out barefoot, wet hair and in my underwear.

Marta graciously gave me her cropped jacket to wear as I wiggled my sweatshirt down into a skirt (totally invented a new fashion statement) as she started yelping and calling local locksmiths.  (Literally the night before I was asking her what would happen if she got locked out and she said nobody has an extra key so she’d be screwed).  Ugh.  I felt awful!

As I awkwardly sat on the steps in the building but outside her apartment, Marta ran to find an ATM so we could pay the locksmith.  She came back with a full wallet and a full bottle of wine.  We then sat.  And drank.  And sat.  And then the locksmith arrived!

I don’t want to share how much we ended up spending on the locksmith (I hate the pound!) but now Marta has 3 sets of keys, a brand new lock and a funny store to tell to scare future guests from leaving the apartment without keys, a doorstop and pants.

I knew it was only a matter of time.  My daily mailroom detours were beginning to feel like scenes from a scary movie... I could almost hear the suspenseful music, feel my heart pounding and see the key turning in the mailbox in extreme slow motion.  Ok, that's super dramatic.  But really, I knew it was coming.  The lease on my Gramercy/Flatiron studio apartment was coming to an end, and with that a big life decision.  Do I re-sign the lease, continue trucking along at my job and get another year closer to the big 3-0 having never been out of Manhattan more than four consecutive weeks at any given time?  Or do I tell the building management company to take the inflated lease renewal that could probably sustain a small country to shove it, and force myself out of my home and on the road to my dream travel trip around the world?

I've been thinking about quitting my job and exploring the world outside Manhattan for years and made a secret oath to myself that when my lease renewal arrived, I would not renew so I could make this dream come true.  End of story.  But I had given myself this timeline before - and failed to meet it - when I accepted an offer at my last job. When my lease ends, I will have been at this job over a year so it is totally acceptable for me to leave and travel the world.  Two years later, I am still in my apartment and in NYC.  So what is different this time?  I am.  

I've always been independent, I enjoy taking on adventures and I'm happy to engage strangers in conversation.  I've even traveled on my own here and there because I believe it's better to go on your own than to never go at all and let's face it - it can be hard to find friends to travel with who can take off work at the same time, afford to go on a trip or who you think could make a good travel companion.  But now more than ever, I'm ready to take this zest to a new level.  I can't explain it, it is just a feeling of confidence knowing that I am ready, whereas I must not have been in the past.  But even with this feeling that the time is right, it doesn't make the idea of leaving my home, my family, my friends, my Manhattan any less scary or intimidating.

So as I opened my mailbox each day in December, I knew the time was coming when I would have to jump out of my comfort zone and start the process of taking this dream trip.  The moment I pulled the lease renewal envelope out of my mailbox, it became real.  I was about to embark on the awesomest - yet scariest - journey of my life, and I hope reading about it will give you the inspiration, empowerment and excitement to the same!