Come Along [1] - Follow Your Heart Around the World

In life, in love, in relations it all comes down to one thing, something we often ignore. It’s that little feeling in our hearts. There are so many reasons you could listen to not do something. With our minds we can work a thought in circles, justifying things left and right to convince ourselves to not chase our dreams. But really the most important thing to listen to is our hearts.

As I was finishing college both my parents were diagnosed with cancer. They sat me down and talked to me about helping the family by doing something stable to help in case anything happens to them. With that in mind I focused wholeheartedly on pursuing a career in health care. I was currently an economics major so I needed my science classes to be pre- health. Wanting to start working as soon as possible, I maxed out the units I could take at my school and signed up for more classes at universities nearby so I could finish what I needed quickly. Night and day studying, I finally became an optometrist and started work. Luckily both my parents beat their cancer! I’m so thankful for it. I could breathe a sigh of relief and think to myself... now that I have done what I set out to do… what did I want?

I haven’t listened to myself and what I wanted in a long time. I knew I loved to travel and had thought of the idea of taking a long trip but never felt justified to pursue it. Almost like a sign from the universe everything just started falling into place to nudge me on this journey of self discovery. I found a deal for a flight to Thailand, I’ve always wanted to go there to see the lantern festival. After purchasing that ticket my friend convinced my to join him on a trip to the Philippines. At first I told him, I already had an international trip planned the month before and it would be extremely difficult for me to take that much time off. But after I saw videos of the country, it was so breathtaking I just had to go. I was inspired to try and make a video of my own in hopes of having the same impact on someone else someday.

That idea again of traveling long term popped into my head again. I spoke to my family and my bosses about my plans and thought it would be met with shock and resistance, but instead everyone encouraged me to go.

“Go, you have nothing holding you back now, these are the last few years you can truly focus on yourself and experience all these things the world has to offer without worrying about anyone else. Soon you’ll have a family and a business and that will become your main priority. So now while you still can, go.”

So I did.

I started off on this solo journey with no real plans asides from roaming south east Asia and was very worried about traveling by myself as a girl. In the end, I met up with my friends from home and abroad, as well as formed some amazing friendships with people I met along the way. I reconnected with my current boyfriend who was traveling on the other side of the world. He decided to come join me for parts of it and things just blossomed from there. I’m glad he did because he definitely adds some beautiful color and wonder to my life, plus he takes amazing pictures. At the end of my trip I realized I only spent 1 day out of the whole 6 months by myself! There were so many ups and downs in travel, but in my mind I was always thinking, no matter how bad it is, I’m still on a vacation. It’s my mindset and perspective that determines my memories and enjoyment of this time period. I’m not going to let anything ruin it for me even myself. It was a trip that I am so happy I did. My world really opened up and I’ve made memories that I can cherish for a lifetime.

After traveling I really did make a video of the Philippines. It’s the first video I have ever made, I love watching it. Something about video just takes you back to a moment in time. I hope it inspires others to take a journey someday like I did, I’ve linked it below.

My journey ended up taking me through and with highlights:

Thailand - Experiencing the Lantern Festival
Singapore - Roaming a beautiful modern metropolis
Philippines - Swimming with Whale Sharks
Australia - Christmas down under with family
Chiang Mai Thailand - Living like a local
Cambodia - Angkor Wat Sunrise
Laos - The city of Luang Prabang a Unesco World Heritage
Myanmar - Seeing the hot air balloons of Bagan
Nepal - Helping rebuild after the earthquake in Langtang Valley
Vietnam - Roaming my home country
Shanghai - Quality time with the Parents

Finally I looked at the map and felt satisfied. There was nowhere left I wanted to go at that moment. It was time to go home and cherish the memories.

Now I’d like to share my experiences of that trip. I’ll be posting every few days about my trip so you can come along too!