The Beginning

I’ve been led to believe that Spain is a beautiful country.  By the time you are reading this I will be there or have been there.  Spain: the heat, the architecture, the late nights, tapas, and siestas.  I have plenty of expectations for Spain.  The problem with a travel blog is that it can spoil the impact of the sights when one visits them.  The blog can either bring your expectations closer to or further from reality. 

On the first leg of my European travels I will: Start in Madrid, walk for about two weeks on the Santiago de Compostela pilgrimage trail, go down the coast of Portugal, and cross back into Spain.  I will travel along the coast and inland of Spain.  From there I will see Southeastern France, Northern Italy, and Slovenia while on my way to Croatia.  There is an extended stay planned for Croatia. 

Nothing after that point has been determined with any finality.  Southern and Eastern Europe will be close at that point.  I would like to make my way west once I start running out of money.  I’ve saved up a modest sum for this trip, but not nearly enough to finish it, and there is no return ticket to Seattle for now. 

This is not my first experience at travel.  On my last trip, in South America, I visited beaches, cities, national parks, and historic centers.  I intentionally rotated between different types of attractions to keep things interesting and to prevent locations from blending together.  My love for travel was cultivated in South America.

On that trip, I met a hostel owner who would spend half a year at a time on a beautiful Brazilian beach.  Not only did she seem disinterested by the place, it seemed to depress her.  I found that beach and town one of the most captivating places I had ever visited.  It was strange that what she looked forward to was returning to Sao Paulo, not an attractive city, until I realized that what she looked forward to was the company of her family and her friends.  When the novelty of the beach town wore off she needed something more than just the place and transient guests in her hostel.  Much of the allure of travel is in novelty.
            Hopefully this blog inspires you to travel.  The blog may help make the expectations for where you want to go more realistic.  It took a long time for me to realize that what I love the most about travel is the movement itself.  When I would briskly step out into the road and breath deep with an excitement in my chest.  Everything was beautiful, nothing was wrong, nothing out of place, especially not myself.  That is not a feeling that can be spoiled by a blog, nor guaranteed by traveling, but it has kept me going.