1 DREAM / 17 COUNTRIES / 10,963 PHOTOS

Now that I have wrapped up Australia, I have officially closed a chapter. I started this blog with the intention of charting a 1.5 year trip around the world. I left New York City in May of 2013 with a backpack and a dream. I left on the trip with someone and finished it on my own. If you have followed my course, you will know that I made it through almost a year when I left out of Vietnam to head to LA to care for a sick mother and sever a relationship that had runs its’ course. Within that year I had touched the Berlin Wall, saw the midnight sun in the Arctic Circle, ate reindeer, marveled at Red Square, hopped the Trans-Siberian Railway, dipped in the oldest and deepest lake in the world, slept among nomads in Mongolia, rode camels, rode horses, milked goats, drank fermented mare’s milk, climbed the sand dunes in the Gobi Desert, saw the Taj Mahal, got Delhi Belly, got grabbed, got amazing photos, got eaten alive by mosquitoes, ached for a comfortable bed, wailed for a hot shower, laughed, cried, hunted for Buddha’s tooth, saw blue whales, went for my first scuba dive, island hopped, rode bikes, rode tuk tuk’s, lost clothes, lost my mind, lost faith, broke bread, broke my heart, cut clothes, cut ties, made connections, acknowledged disconnections, wrote words, spat words, held words, felt strong, felt weak, felt big, felt small, carried gear, carried thoughts, carried baggage, threw clothes, threw fits, almost threw up, almost quit the trip several times over, wanted to escape the escape, loved moments, hated moments, was blown away, enamored, shattered, in awe, in pieces, complete, completely unsure, 100% sure, surely wrecked, surely aware, acutely aware, and there at the Ho Chi Minh airport in April of this year, I said goodbye to that part of the journey.

When I got to LA, I vowed to finish the end of the trip on my own once my mom was well enough. At least finish seeing the last of my family, which I hadn’t made it to, whom reside in Indonesia and Australia.

The summer was full of reinvention and transformation during a time of tough circumstances.

As summer closed, I boarded another plane as a different woman. Off to finish what I had started. I traveled through Indonesia and Australia for six weeks. Zigzagging among family and beautiful landscape. I was open and brave in ways I wasn’t before. My heart was full. It was glorious. I had originally planned on New Zealand after Australia, but my heart had other ideas. I changed my ticket with chance in mind and found myself in San Francisco shortly thereafter.

As the trip came to a close, it was bittersweet. This specific journey was over, yet I was thrilled for the next chapter! It has been amazing to share this specific journey with you and I can't wait to share what's to come. Thanks for all the support. During the next month, Nomadic Habit will be taking on new shape and I can't wait to reveal Nomadic Habit version 2.0.

Of the 10,963 photos I currently have from 17 countries, I wanted to share one image from each country that I haven't yet shared in honor of this journey. I hope you enjoy.

THAT'S A WRAP! I DID IT!

What an amazing adventure. I will never be the same. Just wait until you see what I have up my sleeve.

Jungle Leaves | Sri Lanka

'Nature always wears the colors of the spirit.'

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Picked a few leaves on a walk in Sri Lanka.

Loving the colors + shapes that hide in the jungle.

Sri Lanka

So after the pigeon attack in our hotel room we were so eager to get out of India. The night before we left we had arranged with reception for a taxi to pick us up the following morning for the airport. When we got downstairs and saw no taxi, we inquired and were told, “It’s not coming.” What? We had arranged for this. “Yeah, it’s not coming.” They said this with little ambition to do anything and since they were useless, we were on our own. We ended up tuk-tuking it to the airport and saying good riddance to India. We didn’t know what to expect from Sri Lanka. Was it going to just be a smaller version of India? Was it just going to feel like India Part II? Will there be pigeons in the room?

We got to Colombo and found immediately that things were a bit different. For one, we had hot(ish) water and fast internet (for about 2 days before it stopped working) but the streets were much cleaner and people were for the most part friendly. No ass grabs to count either which is more than I can say for Delhi. We found a proper supermarket (OMG!) and celebrated with wine and cheese. We had to stay in Colombo for just under a week to deal with our Thai visas and we spent the time recuperating.

We decided to take a weekend trip to Kandy to see the famed sacred tooth of Buddha. We took the 2.5-hour scenic train trip into the interior and stayed two nights. Kandy is in all the tourist books but we were both quite underwhelmed by it. I barely snapped any photos. And as for Buddha’s tooth, we found out it’s so sacred that you can’t even see it! We just paid to be in the presence of a fabled tooth? What?! It’s housed in a temple that you can go in and you are to have faith that it exists there. We even paid a visit to the museum to see if we could see a photo of this famous tooth, but not even that existed. This is bananas. We left Kandy with our tooth dreams decayed.

Time to get back to the beach.

We took the train down to Hikkaduwa where it’s all supposed to be “happening.”

Eh.

This area was ravaged by the Tsunami back in 2004 and erosion continues to be a problem. The beach disappears in sections depending on the tides. We liked their many cabanas they have set up on the beach and we did have some mighty good seafood here. We spent 5 nights here as we upped our calamari intake.

Further south we went to Unawatuna, also a beach town, also hit by the Tsunami. Unawatuna feels slightly more intimate and cute and I prefer it to Hikkaduwa.

Nearby in Mirissa, we went on a Blue Whale Watching tour. We got up at 5am and were hoping the whales were up too.

The Indian Ocean can be quite rough and there are numerous boats loaded with tourists all hoping for a glimpse. By the end, you either saw people throwing up, heard people throwing up, or you yourself were throwing up. All aboard!

First we saw several dolphins and eventually a few blue whales. They are magnificent. Unfortunately, I did not get any photos of them because I was:

1. Too mesmerized to focus on composition

2. I too had succumbed to seasickness and was focused on not hurling everywhere.

So my apologies, no photos, just tales of tourists throwing up.

We allotted just 2.5 weeks in Sri Lanka and we leave on Friday to Bangkok where a state of emergency has been declared. With our impeccable timing, we are flying right into the eye of the storm. Oh my. Until then.