A Map for Saturday

I often feel out of the loop regarding pop culture in the US. Tonight I was pleasantly surprised to see part of the documentary A Map for Saturday, which I had never heard about until seeing it on MTV. The film maker Brook Silva-Braga does an excellent job of relating what life is like on the road. I could identify with parts of his story, such as spending Thanksgiving away and how the people met along the way add to the experience.

Once all of the excitement and travel is over, it becomes difficult to remember what it was like to live in the moment and fully take in what is going on. I can imagine that's only intensified traveling for an entire year and meeting a lot of people all over the world. Travel is a natural high that forces people into situations where they talk to people they normally wouldn't and experience things outside their comfort zone, which keeps things interesting.

I feel so blessed to have someone to love and share those experiences with. I think all people seek to learn about the world, whether it be their town or the world on a larger scale, outside of their comfort zone. For me it's living rather than existing.

I believe people seek to find others that they can relate to, which is probably part of the reason I am drawn to travel and other people in international relationships or that choose to live abroad. We understand each other and the struggles and decisions that are made to remain in a relationship or to survive in a foreign land. We've made active choices to be with our partners and spouses and gone against the grain of what is easy. We've been forced to make conscious choices and endure the time and distance between seeing our loved ones, all the way down to shopping for groceries and not being able to buy familiar foods. All of it is a journey.

Today Stefan left for Munich, which makes me sad. It's crazy for me to think we had spent months apart while we were dating and now one week seems torturous. Another reason I love to travel is because it enables us to have guaranteed uninterrupted time together.

I'd still love to make a round the world journey work, or at least a long term trip. We may have some interesting things up our sleeves. I can't wait to see where we are in a year or two.