Even though it was a rough start in Bali, the week was looking up.

Going on a sunrise trekking tour and hiking up a volcano set things in motion again. We left 3:00 AM and it took us over two hours to get to the top. I hadn’t slept for over 24 hours and was on a fitness bender from running for an hour the day before. But I still had tons of energy for the hike.

Upon reaching the top, the sky was a dark rainbow spectrum slowly giving way to a new day. It was one of those moments where we were so beautifully present, that time feels like it has stopped. 

Later that day, I took an introduction course on scuba diving before going into open waters the next day. 

Scuba diving was a thing on my bucket list for ten years and I finally got to cross it off. My instructor said that I’m a natural and that diving certification is something I should consider. I will, just not this time. I was testing the waters first. (Pun intended.)

We went diving at the Liberty Shipwreck site, an area with so many tropical fish! It truly felt otherworldly. The weightlessness gave an idea of what it must be like in outer space. I absolutely loved diving and navigating the coral-covered shipwreck. The hardest part for me was getting back on land. It was like having to wash back up to reality, back on the unsettling solid ground.

I have left Bali, Indonesia, thus completing the second leg of this worldwide tour. It has been an intense seven weeks, to say the least.

I’m the kind of person who likes to have everything planned out: who I’m with, what we will be doing, where I’m staying. Southeast Asia is so diverse, that the choices were overwhelming. So, I left that leg of the trip mostly open, instead roughly mapping out the route of where I wanted to go and how to get there. I didn’t know what to expect even after doing the research and homework, so it seemed better to wait and see how things actually were once I arrived. And it was a good thing that there weren’t rigid plans. For example, Saigon wasn’t my cup of tea, so I left a day early. Chiang Mai was probably my favorite part. I also had reached an emotional breaking point anyway, so I decided to take my time there the most.

I’m not entirely sure how those seven weeks have changed me. It was the leg of the trip where I really was traveling solo, meeting many wonderful people along the way. My sense of direction is returning, too. It’s not perfect, but it’s certainly better than a year ago. Being in new environments has forced me to look outward instead of being so wrapped up in my own head.

In addition, I have learned to drive a motorbike, went scuba diving, got into a few accidents (and actually had to pay money for one), learned to negotiate prices, picked up the basics of the languages, learned to cook Vietnamese dishes, navigated among language barriers, went to a meditation retreat, and had my heart broken the same time one of my best friends shared that she has cancer. I learned to really sit with pain, the cleansing fire that tore the last shreds of an old existence out so that new seeds can be sown.

“I’ve met travelers like you come and go. A lot of them are trying to find themselves or whatever light they are seeking. It could be the man who went though a divorce or the woman who is running from a traumatic past. Everyone has a story and happiness to find. But you know what, you don’t need to look so hard. You don’t have to go to the ends of the earth to find it. The light is already within you; it’s already there! You’re just still opening your eyes to fully see it.”

-The hotel owner of a place I already forgot the name of

Usually change trickles in slowly as things fall further into place. People have said with that a three month trip like this, it might take months or even years for all of it to sink in. Some other travelers will go even longer. I can’t say that a lot of change has come, but there has certainly been a shift in this spiral. 

There is still one more month left. I have since had a layover in Brisbane, Australia. Now I’ve made the final stop in Wellington, New Zealand, thus beginning the last leg of the worldwide trip. Speaking of change, going from a tropical climate to peak winter over in NZ is something to get used to.

Let’s do this.