Traveling can be such an adventure, but it isn’t a vacation, especially this trip. Krissy and I left New York for Milan, Italy with one week left still on our kickstarter campaign for givebackpackers, our new company, creating revenue for small business and non profits through travel and fashion. The entire first week of our trip was full of sleepless nights working and delirious days trying to make the most of our time. We felt incredible pressure to beat the clock ticking down to the final cutoff for kickstarter and juggling the expectations of our hosts and friends wanting us to have fun with them during our short visits.
I want so badly to turn off the technology or connection with the rest of the world and be completely present to the experience I will only have once in my life. I want to go where the flow takes me and feel the freedom I crave and love so much from this kind of travel. However, I made many commitments during this trip, to people, to causes and to myself and my business partner. I’m so grateful the kickstarter was a success and to have so much support but now I feel like I owe everyone an explanation on how I spend my time on this trip.
I haven’t even touched my journal or my book. My spare time is spent creating spreadsheets, setting up meetings and writing emails and website content. Every spare second I am awake my thoughts and efforts are all on our business plan, and Europe was supposed to be “slower” than Asia! I can’t believe
Time has gone by so fast but it feels like ages ago we were leaving Italy for Turkey and it has only been two weeks.
I realized yesterday, while staring into the massive golden astronomical clock in the Prague square, that time is a game we cannot win. If I could turn back time, relive special days, or even press pause, to hold the best moments with the people I cherish in the places I love, it would be the greatest super power of all time. We continue to spin around the sun, even if we sit still on our planet, or fly around it in the opposite direction. You cannot hold time, you can only cherish it.
“I know this much: that there is objective time, but also subjective time, the kind you wear on the inside of your wrist, next to where the pulse lies. And this personal time, which is the true time, is measured in your relationship to memory.”