Departing Thoughts

SHRIYA

In the months, weeks, and now mere days leading up to our departure, we’ve been asked over and over, “Are you excited?” My automatic reply is “Yes!” And I am excited. How could I not be? But as I sit and think about how I’m feeling one day out from our grand trip, the more overwhelming feeling I’m feeling is gratitude. 

I am so profoundly grateful that we get to do this trip of a lifetime. It’s a reality that my younger self couldn’t even have dreamt up - a full year of travel and adventures with no real responsibilities or financial worries (fingers crossed). Young Shriya is screaming with joy and today’s Shriya is trying not to cry. I used to think you had to be millionaire rich to travel extensively like this. I didn’t think it was attainable for me. But due to a lot of privilege, and a combination of luck, hard work, extensive planning, organizing, and sheer determination, we are ready to take the leap. We leave behind the best sets of parents, friends that are family, family that are friends, and enough support and excitement to bolster us through the entire year. I’m forever thankful to baba for instilling in me a love of travel. I grew up poring over the photos from his work trips to the Netherlands, Japan, Italy, China, Bangkok, etc. While I never followed in his footsteps to become a journalist, the wanderlust stuck, deep. For as long as I can remember, I have wanted to do a “world tour.” There is something magical about exploring a new place, opening a window to another world, experiencing a different way of living, thinking, interacting, eating, talking, dancing, simply being. And how lucky am I to be covering so much (and yet still so little) of this vast earth. I could weep at the beauty of it, and I probably will, many, many times. 

The next biggest feeling is apprehension. Yo, I’m scared of how big and wide the world is and how tiny we are inside of it. What if we actually hate long-term travel? We both quit our jobs, ON FRIDAY. We’re about to drain our bank accounts to TRAVEL? Will our careers recover? What will we do when we come back? What about retirement!? What about buying a house?! Having a BABY?! (Someone please tell us whether we want a baby or not.) What about my big baby, Priya - how can I abandon her?! What about all of the things we will miss? The babies that will grow and people that will change in our absence? How will we stay in touch? I’m trying to tell myself there’s time for this trip AND all of that. Some days, I feel like I am trading a year of my life for a great unknown, but it’s a bet I can’t risk NOT taking. I want to eat half the cake and still have the other half.

And truly, it’s because of the support system back here that we feel safe enough to do this. We know there will be many hearts and hands and open doors to love us and soothe us and house us when we do come back. It’s our people I will miss the most. A big thank you to you all, for the endless love, support, and enthusiasm. 

And then there is pride. I am so freakin' proud of us. We’re doing it. And we’re doing it now, while we’re still young and agile (some more than others), and have our whole lives ahead of us. I feel like a little kid again. 

And now finally, I’m excited! Thanks for working through that with me. Bags are packed, vaccinations are up-to-date, tickets are triple checked, new phone is locked and loaded, and passports are in hand! Let’s go check out New Zealand!!!  

PETER

I think the question that people ask me more than anything leading up to this trip is… 

“So…Are you excited?!”

Yes. Most definitely. I watched a few scenes of Lord of the Rings the other night and that’s all it took to get me pumped for New Zealand. I’m also super excited to get back to Australia for the first time since I was 9, and fully kick back in Thailand while sweating my face off. 

However, there’s certainly a part of me that feels quite sentimental about leaving. There are a lot of things and people that I value a lot here in the US, and at times it’s scary to think about being away for such a long time. Don’t get me wrong, I’m extremely thankful for the ability and opportunity to do what we’re doing - many people suggest that it’s truly living the dream. “Do it while you’re young!” they say. We just felt we would be remiss if we didn’t address the other side of that excitement. Everything is a trade-off, and this is no different. 

People also love to ask us, "What will you miss?"

Obviously there are some foods I’ll miss. Yea, maybe I have a trash palate and I’ll miss burgers, but THAT’S VALID OKAY?? I can still remember when I was a kid and we moved to Australia, I missed Long John Silver’s as much as anything. I’m sure I’ll go through a pizza drought at one point too. Honestly, it’s starting to sound like I just might lose weight on this trip…

I’ll probably miss people more than anything. It sucks to think of missing holidays, birthdays, and parties with our closest friends and family. We’ll be able to stay in touch through a vast number of social networks and media, but let’s face it - the pandemic taught us that there’s no real replacement for in-person interaction… And that Zoom calls kind of suck. Please do it with us anyway. With any luck I’m sure we’ll make new friends too, but I’m sure I’ll be thinking of the ones back home often. 

It’s hard to say if I’ll miss work or not. Instinctively, it seems like NOT having to work would result in being more relaxed, happy, and would allow me the time to do the things I really want to. But I mean… are those trust fund kids really happy? REALLY? I’m not so sure. I do think that documenting the journey will give me a sense of purpose, and I’m really hoping to spend some time having fun with music again. Also, I’m pretty certain I won’t miss that familiar Sunday dread of going back to work on Monday. 

(Side note for all my manual therapists of any type out there… I’m mildly concerned that I’m going to lose my touch/sensitivity/confidence/speed a little bit while I’m not working. However, I’m sure Shriya will be a willing volunteer every now and then.)

Finally, I really have no clue if I’ll miss US culture or not. I’m sure there will be times I’ll miss the conveniences of home, but culture is something different. One of the main reasons I want to go on this trip is that there are an endless number of things to be learned from different groups of people. The more I see, the more I believe that everyone needs to leave their geographical comfort zone for a while and have some different experiences. I don’t know that they’ll all be comfortable, but that’s okay too. It’s also possible that I’ll burn out on new experiences and yearn for the familiarity of home. Either way, I think it’s worth it. You can’t grow by just staying in the same place and doing the same thing all the time.   

Maybe I’m a little less entertaining on this post, but hey, that’s where I’m at. Boobies Meet World is raw. Real. Authentic. Open for sponsorships (I’m lookin’ at you, Charles Schwab). 

Thanks for reading, reach out if you feel the urge!

Shriya & Peter