The Great Run

DATE: Thursday February 23rd

TIME: 11:50PM EST

LOCATION: ridgefield ct

Man this feels pretty weird, its been a bit.

A year ago today, I took off on the first great journey of my life. For the first time in my life, I took off into the unknown. It was scary honestly. I don’t think it really hit me for the first few days that I would be living on the road for two months. When I got home I didnt really have a lot of motivation to finish my blog, but as time went on I decided that I wanted to write one last entry. The one year anniversary of us leaving felt like the right time to finish it out.

Our last few days of the trip were pretty fun honestly. We got to visit Niagra Falls! We spent most of our time on the Canadian side of the falls, which I think was a good play. It was really cool over there. I actually heard some people say Eh which was entertaining. I remember sitting at the observation area and letting the mist just cover me, it was a really relaxing experience. On our way out of Canada we almost got stuck. It was a $1 toll to re enter the US and we didnt have any Canadian cash. Luckily a friendly Canadian lent us two dollars so we could return home. We ate at Rainforest Cafe in the hotel since we missed out on it back in Galveston.

Now, we were supposed to go play Airsoft one last time in PA…. but we had a secret plan. So we were supposed to be returning from the trip the day after Mothers Day. Deniz and I decided to sneak home a few days early to suprise our mothers. It took some planning since my mom was very aware of our plans and kept up with Deniz’s instagram story. We ended up filming fake airsofting videos for Deniz to post to throw her off the trail. And it WORKED! She had no idea. It helped that she was in Disney at the time, so pretty distracted. We made the plan with my dad when he came to visit us, and he played his part perfectly!

This trip meant a lot to me. I know its kinda cliche to say that travel made you a different person, but I really do feel like it did. I had never really been away from my safety net before, this was my first time seeing how I was on my own. It was scary often, frustrating as well, but I really do feel different. I feel like I can go out and do thing… if that makes any sense. It really awakened a sense of adventure for me. I used to be content just hanging out, making and playing games day in day out. But now I get antsy, I WANT to get out there and see what the world has in store. I think that this year has been the most transformative in my life, through the trip, loss of my cat and adoption of my first personal kitten, going back to work at my highschool doing tech theater. Im doing things now that I never would have imagined I would before going on this trip. I feel like it really taught me how to grow up. And made me ready for whatever comes next.

So, to whoever ends up reading this, if youre thinking about going on a trip like this, do it. Take the leap. You wont regret it, and you most certainly will never forget it. Thank you all for going on this journey with me <3

Until next time, signing off

-H