Lessons & Reflections on 1 Year of Travel
I’ve just returned from a life-changing year of travel, in which I traveled alone throughout 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, cloud forests, jungles, ancient ruins, deserts, islands, lakes, rivers and oceans. Some of my favorite adventures include: hiking and glacier trekking in Patagonia, cruising the Galapagos, volcano boarding in Nicaragua, trekking across 20+ Mayan archaelogical sites in Mexico, camping in the Lacandon and Amazon, whitewater rafting in Honduras, and climbing Cotapaxi and Ecuadorian volcanoes.
When I started the journey I did not set an intention to travel through all of Latin America in one year. Instead, it began with a single flight back to Mexico and an airbnb in the Yucatan. From there, every step was guided by intuition and feeling. When it was time, I would book the next place on the map along with transportation and accommodation the day before it was time to move on to the next place or country. Nothing was booked or mapped out in advance. The Latin American journey was one big intuitive experiment. A grand experience in which I was able to test the limits of my comfort zone, the courage to expand, and experience my newfound sense of freedom.
This journey challenged me in many ways and I learned many lessons. Ultimately, it was an important learning experience.
Lesson: Release Control
Traveling alone while setting an intention to always listen to my intuition 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 in my journey.
Lesson: Stay Grounded
Daily practices to keep me grounded and rooted within myself were so very important. There were times when I would sleep in 10+ different places in a month. I was 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 continue to meditate regularly, to exercise daily to train my body, and to try to maintain regular sleep and eating patterns to create regularity in basic needs, despite the constantly changing enviroments and situations. 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 well 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 just 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, and just being in the place.
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, and operating from a state of depletion is not sustainable. I also learned that there were some activities or environments that drained my energy. 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 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 anyone.
What I learned was that loneliness was something I felt during times I felt disconnected from myself. It was a feeling and a signal that I abandoned myself and that I needed some self-care and nurturing time for myself. I needed to be heard and understood, when I wasn’t listening and too busy doing. Loneliness was merely a signal that something was off-balance and that I was out of touch with myself and my needs. The times when I was nurtured and deeply connected to myself, were when I felt the most loved and connected to everyone.
Lesson: Free Myself From Expectations & Productivity
I’ve always been an ambitious person and it was hard for me to not apply this to my travels. By the time I reach Nicaragua, I was set on going to every country in Central and South America. I forced myself to leave Nicaragua to move onwards to Costa Rica and Panama, but at that point I lost some connection to the leisurely flow and joy of travel. It began to feel like a mission, work, rather than a spontaneous experience. By the time I was in Ecuador, recovering from altitude sickness in Cotopaxi, I had to regroup and remind myself of why we were doing this. Not to achieve, not to be productive, and not to see it all and get it done.
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.
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 the magic that already exists all around us.
Here are some highlights from my travels in one year:
Living in Mexico: meditating with the butterflies, bugs, birds, stars, rainbows, spirits and synchronicities.
Learning to scuba dive in cenotes
Swimming with whale sharks in Mexico
Exploring the remote, ancient Mayan ruins across the Yucatan and Campeche.
Chasing waterfalls in Chiapas
Camping in the Lacandon Jungle alone
Whitewater rafting in Honduras
Reconnecting with the ocean and sunsets in a chill surf town in El Salvador
Hiking volcanoes in Nicaragua
Spending my birthday on an island under the stars
Enjoying new friends, hammocks, and sunsets in a surf town in Nicaragua
Horseback riding and ziplining in a rainstorm in Costa Rica
Sleeping in a hobbit home on the side of a volcano in Ecuador
Climbing Cotopaxi and battling altitude sickness
Living on the Galapagos Islands & swimming with incredible wildlife
Iguazu Falls!
Glacier National Park: hiking/boating/horseback riding & experiencing expansive glaciers
Hiking Torres del Paine, Patagonia in challenging conditions
Flying over Nazca lines