Lessons & Reflections on 1 Year of Travel
I am currently sitting in my new apartment in Tulum reflecting on a life-changing year of travel. It feels strange to look back on all that has happened in just one year, feeling as if I lived 5 years in one. How do I make sense of the blur of experiences and moments that have re-shaped me in so many ways I do not yet understand? I look back at the person I was and she already feels so different. So many different versions of Kat that blur together. Now stripped back, as if there is no identity left. Yet, she is the most secure and strong Kat I’ve ever known.
When I look back on the last year, a lot has happened. I let go of my old life, home, career, job, income, marriage, relationships, identity, but also many fears, anxieties, thought processes, beliefs and behaviors. It was an intense, tumultuous process that required a lot of time, space, hard work, patience, courage and kindness for myself. And by letting go, what I gained was a fresh start and a new beginning, a re-born sense of self and purpose, renewed joy and excitement for life, and a deep foundation of inner strength, peace and love.
In the last year and a half I became a very spiritual person after my awakening. It still surprises me sometimes when I refer to myself as ‘spiritual’ because my old self was so cynical. And yet now I recognize it as the core of my being, as if it had always been that way and I just forgot.
To me, being ‘spiritual’ is not an identity. It is simply a state of connection to the energy inside and all around. It affords me a higher perspective and a way of being that helps me see past the surface and beyond the veil.
I went through a very intense and accelerated spiritual awakening process that completely transformed everything. At the start I woke up reciting a lightworker chant and was asked to go through a re-initiation. The first seven months of my awakening process was supported by archangels and divine energies activating and guiding my process. I received energetic upgrades, information downloads, visions and messages. My body went through intense shedding periods, purging, ascension colds and aches as my body regenerated itself. I became very sensitive and hyper aware of energies and became super in tune to natural forces and synchronicities. It was like I had a super antennae to energy frequencies. I did not ask for any of this, and yet it came because it was time to wake up.
From the moment I woke up in the mornings, I’d grab my journal and write down all of the dreams, messages and lessons from the previous night. After cleaning, I’d start the day connecting with at least an hour-long meditation practice in which I’d ground, eliminate energetic waste, channel higher frequencies of energy, move the energy around to areas of need in my body, balance energy centers, and tune into information downloads and messages from the divine. Then I’d record everything, reflect, and eat a high energy breakfast in peace. I had turned to writing as a means of helping me process and make sense of everything I was experiencing. But what I write is only a small fraction of what I’ve experienced. I find that I need some time to process and integrate what I experience or learn before I can begin to articulate it in words.
The first cycle was all about breaking open, connecting, excavating, accessing, healing, re-learning to feel and process emotions, accepting, releasing, reprogramming, experimenting and exploring. I did a majority of this work in Mexico.
I continued the work as I traveled alone throughout eastern Mexico, all of Central America, and South America. Following the ring of fire from Mexico to Patagonia, I traveled 22,733 miles / 36,585 km, almost traveling the equivalent distance of around the world (24,901 miles / 40,075 km). Across 14 countries, from sea level to 19,347ft / 5,897m high, I explored mountains, volcanoes, jungles, cloud forests, lakes, rivers, oceans, deserts and ancient ruins.
When I started the journey I did not have an intention to travel through all of Latin America in one year. I started by following a random intuitive feeling one night to book a flight and apartment in Tulum. My love affair with Mexico had already started a few months before as I traveled between Mexico and the U.S. while working. I ended up living in and traveling around Mexico for 7 months. And then momentum took its course and I ended up going to every country in Central America, and then on to South America working my way to Patagonia and back up. I did not have a plan, and I did not have anything booked or mapped out. Most of the time, I booked my transportation and accommodation the day before when it was time to move on to the next place or country.
This Latin American journey was in a way one big intuitive experiment. Every step I made was guided by intuition. From the moment I quit my job while in Tulum to this very moment I am writing this post back in Tulum, the journey was an accelerated series of tests, challenges and lessons to learn from. People might think it was a nice year-long holiday but it was far from it. It was probably the most work I’ve done in a long time, but this time benefiting my own growth. And I wasn’t escaping from reality or myself, I was running towards it.
Lesson: Release Control
Traveling alone while setting an intention to always listen to myself allowed me to evolve and stretch into new perspectives while navigating constantly changing environments and situations.
I had to learn to trust and have faith, and learn to let go of my fears and worries over stability, security, safety, perfectionism, ambition, and loneliness. It was a test to see much I could allow myself to relax into the natural flow of life, and release the need to control the details of the process and the expectations of an outcome. Can I take the next step without knowing what’s next? Can I release any rigid ideas of what something needs to look like or how it’s supposed to happen? Essentially, how much control can I give up so that life can just happen and run its course naturally?
When I released control, that is when wonderful things would happen. I would discover beautiful, supportive environments to be in. I would discover a hidden passion or interest I never knew I had. I would meet lovely people to connect with. I would experience synchronicities and wonderful surprises.
Lesson: Stay Grounded
Daily practices to keep me grounded and rooted to myself were so very important. There were times when I would sleep in 10+ different places in a month; always on the go, always changing. It was important to me to maintain some feeling of stability so overtime I learned to cultivate stability and a sense of home within myself. I made it a point to meditate regularly to connect and train my mind and self, to exercise daily to train my body, and to try to maintain regular sleep and eating patterns to create regularity in basic needs. Thus it was very important to me to have a comfortable environment to sleep in no matter where I went. In order to endure a year of constant change and movement, I had to make sure my being and body was regulated and taken care of.
Lesson: Practice Pacing & Balance
The nature of travel would constantly throw my balance off but I was aware when it was time to move back to center. I learned that pacing was very important. There were many times when I would wear myself down going from one place to the next and doing one activity after another. And then there were times when I just needed a period of rest and recovery. Figuring out the pacing was a practice in balance. How much time do I need to experience and gather inspiration, and how much time do I need to rest, reflect, process, and be? I learned to give myself more time and space, and realized that nothing was lost in not doing something. Sometimes more was gained in free space and time.
Lesson: Prioritize Joy
Another key lesson was learning how to prioritize joy and excitement. When I started the journey, I wanted to do everything, see everything, experience everything. To make the most of my time in each place and have the most comprehensive experience in each. I loved it and soaked it up like a sponge. But soon enough, I wore myself down and just needed a place to rest. It wasn’t until somewhere after Costa Rica and Panama that I decided I needed to start cutting back. And it wasn’t until Peru at the end of my trip that I actually prioritized what I needed to do. I realized that I do not have endless supplies of energy (as much as I want to believe that I do), and operating from a state of depletion is not sustainable. I also learned that there were some activities or environments that drained my energy. This was a hard one for me to see clearly. So many times we believe so strongly in the idea of something and we think we enjoy it, that we can’t actually see that we don’t. I learned to prioritize activities and situations that energizes and excites me over activities that drain me. The times when I followed what brought me joy and excitement is when I met some of the best people and enjoyed my experiences the most.
Lesson: Enjoy Being Alone
I traveled one year alone. There were many times when I really enjoyed being alone, and there were times when I really enjoyed being with people. People always ask and wonder, “doesn’t it get lonely traveling by yourself?” And I respond: feelings of loneliness can creep in when you are alone and when you are with people. There were times when I would sit in an apartment in some country by myself and think, what if something happened to me and no one would know? And then there was a time when I was out at a party with new friends and felt alone and homesick. Loneliness has nothing to do with being alone, and it has nothing to do with traveling solo. It can happen anywhere, anytime, to everyone. What I discovered was that loneliness is something I felt during times I felt disconnected from myself. It is a feeling and a signal that I have abandoned myself and that Kat needs some self-care and love. She needs to be understood and listened to. Loneliness is merely a signal that something is off-balance and you are out of touch with yourself and your needs. The times when I am nurtured and deeply connected to myself, are when I feel the most loved and connected to everyone.
Lesson: Free Myself From Expectations & Productivity
This year of travel was really the integration of the inner work I uncovered during my time in Mexico. So much of what you see in my photos is the surface, but the real value was in the process of travel. The art of intuitive listening, movement, experimentation and discovery. It was supposed to be a completely free time for exploration. And in many ways it was. But in a way travel also filled the void that was formerly occupied by my job and career. I became so set on going to every country in Central and South America, that somewhere around Costa Rica and Panama I lost some connection to the joy that travel and exploration afforded me.
I was and still am very much tied to ambition. And I think I wrestled with those seemingly conflicting needs for freedom and exploration, and ambition and purpose. Still thinking that those two things are polar opposites. But somehow forcing them to fit together. I was still associating ambition and purpose with work, control and achieving. And I applied this to my approach to travel. What I now know is that I can let go of ideas of what I think needs to happen, and learn how to channel my ambition in ways that allow me to feel free. In doing this, I can enjoy and experience more of the possibilities and opportunities available to me. And perhaps discover new aspects of myself, hidden abilities, new joys, and a truer purpose.
Lesson: Know When to Let Go
After Patagonia, Peru was my last country and by then I knew I had to accept that it was time to end this phase of the journey. I felt it was already coming to an end somewhere between Patagonia and Peru, I just had to let it go. It took me a month in Peru to really process that and feel the fear and anxiety of not knowing what was next. Last year I let go of everything so there is no familiarity to return to. I thought I would make a stopover in CDMX or LA and journey on to Hawaii, but all the flights pointed back to Cancun. Throughout my travels I thought a lot about returning to Tulum but I feared it would be going back to the past. But Tulum called me once again and I returned home to the jungle.
And now, I begin cycle 2. Back in Tulum one year later. It really has come full circle. Now, I wrestle with the anxiety of navigating the next phase in the journey forward, not knowing but only trusting the very next step.
It has been a privilege to take the space and time to see and experience the beauty of the natural world with peace and leisure. It was the first time I really opened my eyes to appreciate all the wonders and magic that already exists all around us.
Here are some highlights from my travels in one year:
Living in Tulum: meditating and healing with the butterflies, bugs, birds, stars, rainbows, spirits and synchronicities; re-emergence as a free woman; having a transformative motorbike accident
Learning to scuba dive in cenotes
Swimming with whale sharks in Mexico
Exploring the remote, ancient Mayan ruins of the Yucatan & Campeche, solo & oftentimes the only person there!
Chasing waterfalls in Chiapas
Camping in the Lacandon Jungle alone
Experiencing the overwhelming trash problem on the coasts of Honduras
Whitewater rafting tour in Honduras, with no one else on the river!
Reconnecting with the ocean and sunsets in a chill surf town in El Salvador
Becoming a cat lady, seriously. Latin America turned me into a cat lady without a choice, they always find me.
Hiking volcanoes in Nicaragua, without limits!
Spending my birthday, alone for the first time, on an island under the stars
Allowing myself to just ‘be’ in a surf town in Nicaragua
I just love hammocks
And I just love sunsets
Discovering my love and connection with wild animals in Costa Rica & riding horses in a rainstorm
Tower moment in Costa Rica & Panama feeling like what am I doing here?
Battling altitude sickness in Cotopaxi. Climbing to less than 20,000 ft.
Living on the Galapagos Islands & swimming with incredible wildlife
Iguazu Falls! The most magnificent sight I’ve ever seen. Waterfalls are incredible.
Glacier National Park: hiking/boating/horseback riding & experiencing expansive glaciers
Hiking Torres del Paine, Patagonia in the worst, most challenging conditions - lessons on endurance and clarity.
Flying over ritual Nazca lines and being blown away by the ancient technology/architecture of Peru’s indigenous ancestors
Endings in Peru - mass tourism, coming to terms with the end of a journey
Bittersweet return to Tulum - changes & support