Do you ever have one of those moments that you know will forever change the course of your life? I'm talking about one of those clearly-defined moments, where you stop breathing because the realization has hit you so hard it has knocked the breath clear out of your lungs. I had that moment a little over a year ago, and in about one hundred days I am about to change my life completely.
It Started in a Treehouse in Thailand
The idea came to me Christmas morning in 2013 when I was sitting in a treehouse in Thailand getting a bamboo needle tattoo from a man I had met an hour earlier. While I should have felt apprehensive, all I knew for certain was that my soul had never felt as quiet and as peaceful as it did while I sat there overlooking the jungle and bay below. In that moment, I decided I wanted to travel in search of more of these moments. I've read countless travel diaries since that day and it seems I'm far from being the first to come to that conclusion in Thailand; it seems a paradise for soothing the soul and sparking wanderlust.
I returned from that vacation to the US and dove right into planning a round-the-world trip. Research is one of my passions and I was in my element planning this trip; budgets, spreadsheets and itineraries have covered my desk the past seventeen months. Originally, I gave myself a year to go see everything I wanted to see. Staring at maps and pouring over travel blogs endlessly, I quickly came to the conclusion that while I could not see everything in a year, I could see the vast majority of countries and locations I wanted to see in about a year and a half. I decided if this was to be my one go at seeing the globe, I wanted to see all seven continents during my travels.
Planning Sixty Countries in Two Years
There is nothing extraordinary about myself or my plan. I turn 27 years old this week and have been living in the US for the past 3 years, working with children. I have a degree in psychology I never seem to use, except for psychoanalyzing my friends' love lives over bottles of wine. I was born and raised in Canada; not a people known to be that wild or crazy. I have only been to six countries in my life but each one has added fuel to this desire to travel, to explore, and to meet people from other cultures. Beginning August 21, 2015 I plan to see over sixty countries in the following two years.
When I began to plan this adventure, I decided I wanted to truly make it that: an adventure. I am an outgoing, cheerful person by nature who loves almost everyone I meet but I am not what you would call adventurous, brave or spontaneous. I am hoping to learn how to become those three things as I travel and have thus lined up a whole slew of adventure activities along the way to push me out of my comfort zone: skydiving, bungee jumping, abseiling, shark diving, mountain climbing, the list goes on and on. I plan to challenge myself to push past my limits and experience everything possible, no matter how terrifying.
This may be a tough feat, as I am the girl who stood below a six foot fence at an obstacle course this year and thought, "No, that looks a bit high, I think I'll just go around it.." Did I mention I plan to rappel myself down an 18-story building in Bolivia this November?
Wish me luck! We'd like to welcome Rylei to the Living the Dream team! Rylei will be sharing stories and advice from her long-term trip that is set to hit all seven continents beginning in August 2015. In addition to her articles here on Living the Dream, you can follow Rylei's journey on her blog, RTW Rylei.
