When I wake up it’s about 2AM and I’ve slept only five hours. I’d like to sleep longer, but since I’m wide awake I decide I better start working, because it’s still daytime in the Netherlands. I make myself an espresso with the Nanopresso I got from my parents and enjoy some delicious coffee while I sit down at the small desk in my room. I’m glad I picked this Airbnb where I can also work comfortably.
tI had set the alarm clock just before sunrise, so I could do an early morning hike today, but when I wake up it’s raining outside. Where it was blue skies and sunshine yesterday, it’s grey and raining today. Not really the hiking weather I was hoping for. So I go back to sleep and wake up again around 7.30. It’s still the same weather, but I’ll go to the Grand Tetons anyway. If the weather gets better I’ll do some hiking and else I’ll just drive further to Yellowstone National Park.
It’s still nice to drive through Grand Tetons National Park, but it’s clear there won’t be any hiking today. At the entrance of the park I ask the lady for recommendations on a day like this. She tells me to visit the lodges and have a relaxed day. That sounds like a good idea.
When I wake up it’s already starting to become light. I open the back door of my car while I stay in my bed. Now it feels even more like camping, because I can hear and smell nature from my mobile home. The visitor center opens in about an hour, so I have to wait a bit if I want to go there. Since I’m on a campsite I realize I can my my own coffee on the stove. That’ll be a good start of the day. It’s nice to be in adventure mode again, but it just takes some adjustment from waking up surrounded by loving people to waking up alone. I remember what my grandma often tells me: you are never alone. And that’s true. I’ve got many friends back home in the Netherlands and here in America. The other day I realized that I don’t feel like going back to the Netherlands yet, though it will be nice to see my friends and family again.
While making my coffee this morning I suddenly start to see how someone like Ana can travel around for three years. Of course it’s not an easy life, but it’s a free life. No office you need to go to every day, no obligations at all. You work for a while to get some money and then you travel further.
Today it’s time to pack my bag again and travel further. I’d love to stay longer with this lovely family, but there are more places to go and more people to see. I say goodbye to the children when they go to school and then hang out with Darin for a while longer and talk more about life. Darin is good in reading people, seeing how they really are. I ask him what he sees when he looks at me. He tells me the exact same thing as another spiritual man told me on the ferry from the South Island to the North Island of New Zealand. Things about my character and the path I’m on in life. I’m impressed and keep things in mind. In some way this is again an adventurous journey as also a spiritual journey. That’s one of the things I love about traveling, you learn a lot about yourself and life as you travel to new places and meet new people.
I say goodbye to Darin and hope to see him soon again in the Netherlands.
