If you are anything like me, you have likely heard all of the warnings about proscrastination from concerned friends and family more than once. Way more than once. I think my personal favorite–from my mom, no less–was “procrastination is a lot like masturbation. It feels good until you realize you are fucking yourself.” And, if you are anything like me, you have blatanly ignored these warnings as if you are somehow the one person in the entire world that can bingewatch Grey’s Anatomy for two weeks, and then just jump on a bike and ride across the country like it’s nothing. Well, let me tell you, no one is that person. Not even Lance Armstrong, who juiced it up all the live long day, is that person.
I tend to be the type of person who jumps in head first with her eyes closed. In other words, I am a dumb person. (But, dammit, if I am not a dumb person with guts!) Two months ago I had the vision of biking halfway across the country from Minneapolis to Boston. It seems like such an amazing idea in theory, (and by golly, I am going to fucking do it) but I wish that I had been more prepared. And not just for the sheer physical pain that I am currently in while I hold an icepack to my crotch where my bike seat bruised my womanhood, but for the things that I had no idea I would even have to be prepared for. Things like my bike breaking in transport and needing immediate repair; not having a working phone in a different country because your service provider told you lies (lies I tell you!!); having to change all of your campsite reservations an hour after making them, and having to forfeit all of the fees; and a myriad of other mishaps that ate away all of your travel money in order to remedy, sending you reeling into despair.
Solo travel is the hardest and most amazing thing I have ever done, and it has literally only been three days. Three of the most emotional rollercoaster-y days of my life. Packed into this incredibly short time has been obstacle after obstacle, testing my resolve at every turn, as well as empowering me to take on the next challenge. The people I have met so far in my travels have all been so incredibly full of a thirst for life that I envy and aspire to.
Walking alone along Victoria’s beautiful waterfront just after sunset erased every worry from my mind, and reminded me why every challenge and every obstacle is completely worth overcoming. Afterall, nothing worth doing is ever going to be easy.
thelovelyloner 