Ups and Downs of Travel – It’s Always a Wild Ride

Traveling brings out a sense of revelation in oneself, everything seems heightened, every feeling bigger, brighter, more intense! Every experience, every opportunity, every tasty morsel of food brings but excitement and insight into worlds unknown and sometimes oh so familiar.

In light of the experience, globe trotting adventures aren’t always rainbows and butterflies. Undoubtedly a series of ups and downs, a total roller-coaster ride that has you hitting the highest of highs and unfortunately a couple lows..man those really suck. But for every stolen wallet, every jacket disappearing in the streets of Paris, and all those moments of utter confusion (a.k.a. losing yourself in the streets of Florence – that city makes no sense) there are unnumbered moments of amazement, awe, wowzas, and wonderment.

It’s easy to take those moments for granted, to get caught up in the lows, glued to the shallow emotions of those oh so horrible events. Alright, take a couple minutes to swallow the awfulness. But just a couple! It’s not always so simple when things go awry in a not so familiar country where communication becomes but a series of hand gestures and odd body movements instead of actual words – my Italian is still a bit worse for wear. And while my belongings seem to be dwindling down to zip, nada, nothing, due to a series of unfortunate events, I’ll always remember these wise words. Thanks Judith!

“It has been a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day. My mom says some days are like that.” – Judith Viorst

Okay, it’s not always sunshine, puppies and cupcakes, but take it easy! You’re still in a place where pizza is to die for, coffees cost less than bottled water and theirs a plethora of jaw dropping backdrops to make everyone jealous on insta.

For instance……

I recently took a trip to Interlaken, Switzerland, and when I say highest of highs I really mean HEIGHT! Soaring through the open air in nothing but a harness and some backpack contraption, Steve and I took flight over the Swiss Alps and Valleys – Paragliding has always been on my list of must dos, another tick off the bucket-list. I’m drawn to adrenaline like a fish to water, I just can’t get enough! Not sure how well my mom will take that statement…But I made it down safe ma! 🙂

The ride was absolutely unreal! I felt so comfortable and amazed really by the tranquility of it all. No..I’m serious! I may not be as terrified of heights as the average gal, but in all fairness, it’s still 1000′s of feet above the ground and I would’ve stayed up there all day! We landed safely on the ground, actually quite gracefully with both feet softly hitting the field (Hmmm I saw cows lounging on that field earlier in the day and just prayed I didn’t land in a pile of well..sh*t). Once we returned to ground zero, no sh*t in sight, I literally felt like the happiest girl on the planet! On cloud 9 and a massive grin from ear to ear, “You have the best job!” I excitedly mentioned to Steve. He shrugged off the comment, probably heard that one a million times. While I don’t plan on setting off on a career in paragliding escapades like my dear pilot Steve, I still remember that feeling of ‘high’ and would say it takes total triumph over every feeling of sorrow, loneliness, and confusion.

There’s been so many moments of thrill and euphoria to even count and while I’d like to mention every single one, I’ll keep those memories in my mind and in my camera. So out of 100 maybe I have 10 lows and 90 highs! With those odds I’ll stay on the upside 🙂