I woke up in a screensaver

Writing this from the way back seat of a minibus in Krabi, Thailand that is hopefully taking me to my new home for the next few days. I say hopefully because I literally just booked this two days ago and could have gotten a private driver to take me to the island of Koh Lanta but then I saw $5.03 in my bank account and figured another mode of transportation would have to do the trick. So here I am with about 15 other confused backpackers and feel like I’m actually a backpacker right now too, instead of being part of ~50 amigos traveling from country to country.

The past 9 months of traveling with Remote Year have been amazing, but it’s almost made me too comfortable, and I’ve forgotten how to plan things on my own. I have my flights pre-arranged, housing already set up, SIM car provided upon arrival and all of my friends usually down the hall to hangout with. It’s incredible and I love it so much, but I felt like I needed a solo challenge for a few days. And wondering if I will make it to my apartment is proving to be more of a challenge than I had in mind, but c’est la vie, right?

I’ve had the most incredible first two weeks in Asia and feel like this is everything that I pictured it to be. Food as spicy as I want it, $10 massages on every corner, motorbikes whizzing by (ready to steal purses…) and the sense of a crazy new culture I was so ready and excited to experience.

Life in Europe was perfect (read: safe and easy). I’ve spent a lot of time in my life living in and traveling through Europe, and as much as I love it, it didn’t provide any challenge. I think my biggest challenge in Croatia was having to leave the beach to start the work day (and sometimes I was able to get wifi on the beach… so scratch that).

I shed a few tears when leaving Croatia, I am convinced it was one of the happiest months of my life (and my Instagram certainly proves that to be true). But here I am, on a new continent, country #38 at the age of 27 and pretty damn pumped about it.

More updates to come, but first I need a cold beer and a new friend to drink it with.