All In

Life.

When we look back at the things the past year has brought us, all of the incredible characters we’ve met, all of the places the winds have carried us to (and all of the winds themselves that almost tossed us off of ridgelines & bridges…), all of the incredible moments that we simply would not have been physically able to witness from the confines of “normal” and we realize that yes, the crazy adventures are worth it.

It’s been awhile since I’ve written. It was a few countries ago that I was last on here. But here’s what’s been rolling around in my head (and probably yours too, even if you’re not willing to admit it):

Buy a plane ticket that costs a good portion of your income.

Make it a one way.

Make sure it takes you somewhere you’ve wanted to go so badly your whole life that tears well up when you finally set eyes on it.

Then buy another that starts in an airport under construction and lands at one in the mountains with a runway roughly the length of a football field.

Hold your breath as the plane on that particular leg of the journey takes off and lands.

. . . 

Trudge up to an elevation that give you headaches and makes you want to puke. Keep walking on anyway.

Wonder about all the people who have walked the trail before you.

Start a silent dance party in the middle of a mountain memorial with a group of travelers you’ve never met as you catch your breath from a steep climb.

Slide down a rock with a couple kids you just met. And unabashedly love it.

 . . .

Watch someone get chased by a monkey.

Then unknowingly cross an invisible line and find yourself getting slapped by that same monkey.

Laugh about it.

. . .

Wander the dirt streets beneath a web of tangled powerlines and have faith you will find your way back. Somehow.

Barter with someone who doesn’t speak your language. Get egregiously ripped off (by local standards). Try to barter again five minutes later and three vendors down.

Take a ride in a rickshaw to somewhere far from where you're staying then realize they misunderstood how long you wanted to be out and argue over payment.

Stand on a rooftop and look at a city that is literally every color of the rainbow.

. . .

Eat so much rice, SO much rice that you balk at the thought of facing it for months afterwards.

Discover how good orange flavored oreos taste in comparison.

If you can't bring yourself to eat yak, at the very least pet one.

 . . .

Take a busride that makes you put your seatbelt on not because of the law, but because the road is rough enough that you might just actually fall out of your seat if you don’t.

Ride in a dugout canoe and realize it has a leak in it right as it sidles up to a crocodile. The meat-eating kind.

. . .

Hop off the dugout with a local and get a quick two-second stampede away from a one-horned, feisty rhino with a reputation for picking a fight.

Make sure you have an escape plan for if he decides to charge you.

Even if your “escape plan” turns out to be to jumping into that crocodile filled river two feet back and five feet down from where you currently stand.

Walk down the road next to an elephant.

. . .  

Get lost in a misty jungle weathered by monsoons and stumble upon tiger prints right next to rhino prints right next to sloth bear prints.

Jump out of bed in the middle of the night to watch a rhino eat outside your thatched roof mud hut. Listen to them rip grass from the ground and foliage from a tree.

Watch the shapes of elephants emerge from the morning mist.

. . . 

Unlock your heart, offer it up, and let yourself experience what it means to be vulnerable in the presence of someone who is more than absolutely worth it.

Spend a birthday, be it yours or theirs, with your best friend somewhere wild and remote.

Fight for what you want. Stick to your guns.

. . .
Whatever you do, wherever you find yourself: throw yourself into it, don’t give up, soak each experience up for all it’s worth. 

Make it count.

Go.

I dare you.