This Year Is For You Tony
Hello all and welcome back to the blog. This blog will unfortunately have a bit of a somber tone given what has happened in just the last 12 hours, but it still strangely fit the theme of what I was going to write about.
But before I get to the blog I must make note of a death that I found out about just 12 hours ago….the death of Anthony Bourdain. For those who don’t know who that is frankly I’m sorry because he was an inspiration to millions of people all over the world in the global culinary and travel communities, including myself.
Anthony Bourdain was a struggling chef with bouts of depression, mental illness and drug addiction who made a name for himself in 1999 when he published an expose in the New York Times entitled “Don’t Eat Before Reading This” where he talked about kitchen secrets and the quirky characters he had met/worked with for years. Eventually the article got turned into a book, Kitchen Confidential, which was quickly followed by TV shows on Food Network, the Travel Channel and then most recently CNN.
I first really started to get into Anthony’s work about 3 years ago when I stumbled upon an episode of Parts Unknown on CNN. The show follows Anthony to a city or country where he interacts with locals, tries delicacies that I wouldn’t even dream of tasting and experiencing that country/city in all of it’s glory.
I became addicted and crushed the first few seasons and eagerly waited for the new season to come out each year. I was mesmerized by the places he went, the foods he ate and the people he met, and he seemed to do it all with such ease, but also grace and kindness. It was in watching those shows and analyzing my own life that almost one year ago today I decided to apply to Remote Year.
One Year Ago
“If you’re twenty-two, physically fit, hungry to learn and be better, I urge you to travel — as far and as widely as possible. Sleep on floors if you have to. Find out how other people live and eat and cook. Learn from them — wherever you go.” Anthony Bourdain
If you’ve read my earliest posts ¿Cómo? and What Every Two Year Old Asks, But Why? then you will remember the absolutely crazy journey that I went on to go on Remote Year and my reasons for doing so, but what really occurred a year ago that made me click that apply button?
I can only describe it as a perfect storm. I was disenchanted with my job, frustrated that I had just gotten turned down from one that I thought I was perfect for and while staring at my annual “to do” or rather “wish list” for the year in the Germantown, MD Panera the one glaring thing on it was that I wanted to travel outside the country more. I knew I was going on a cruise later in the year, but I was yearning for more. An adventure. A lifestyle change. Something.
I was grasping in a way, but as I was on Facebook that day the Remote Year ad came up again. This wasn’t the first time I had seen it, I had researched it a few times before, but always thought it was a pipe dream. But that day things were different, and I quickly filled out the inquiry form.
A few days later I had my first phone screen and two weeks later I was accepted. Then I had to convince my boss and while as I describe in the above blogs that didn’t work out and I had to get a new job, fast forward to March 2018 and I was getting on a plane to Cape Town (after a failed initial attempt, you can read about that too, It Took A Village — Including A Trip to the Village of Bala Cynwyd, yes I’m shamelessly promoting myself, but hey it’s my blog). But I was officially a Remote on March 6, 2018.
Take a Leap
“Travel is about the gorgeous feeling of teetering in the unknown.” Anthony Bourdain
How’s it going overall? I pride myself on being very informed in most of my decisions, I vetted several undergraduate and graduate programs before deciding, I searched, and price compared tons of cars before buying my first car, I meticulously plan vacations and while I definitely did plan the practical aspects of my RY journey, I did very little research on the places that I would be going. For once in my life I let go in that regard. And I’m so thankful I did.
I do some light googling before I get places and read the City Guide that they put together, but I largely embrace the unknown otherwise. I hear about cool places to go to from my fellow remotes, RY staff, citizens (graduated remotes), city teams, but I don’t do a heck of a lot of searching myself. I rely on word of mouth, winding streets and wherever my google maps takes me (which sometimes is the Jardin Majorelle restaurant in the middle of the Medina instead of the Jardin itself that your friends told you to go to).
Track events, nights out, experiences are largely not planned by me, I focus my planning efforts more on the positive impact projects that we do within the communities because RY and our community have made a commitment to leave the places we visit better than they were when we arrived.
So how has that all gone? Well amazingly well. It has allowed me to discover news places, new friends, new foods and a new side of myself, the adventurous side that I don’t often let come out to play.
Old Annie would have never been down for a multi-hour hike in the rain (Ourika Valley) or a hike less than 24 hours off a plane that involves chains (Lion’s Head) or a bike ride through the Medina (Marrakech) or a Flamenco show on a school night (Valencia) or a night at the club on a river boat til 5am not once, but twice in one week (last week). All of this was unknown to me and I ended up loving all of it.
Now I’m not saying I’m not risk averse when I need to be, but being on this journey has allowed me to really embrace the unknown, open my eyes and see the beauty that is around me.
I’ve taken a leap and I haven’t hit the ground yet.
It’s Not All Rainbows & Butterflies
“Travel isn’t always pretty. It isn’t always comfortable. Sometimes it hurts, it even breaks your heart. But that’s okay. The journey changes you; it should change you. It leaves marks on your memory, on your consciousness, on your heart, and on your body. You take something with you. Hopefully, you leave something good behind.” Anthony Bourdain
Now with embracing the unknown also comes challenges, especially while on the road. I have had illnesses (dang you Thagazout, read this blog: Unspoken Bond), frustrations, insecurities, home sick moments (wish I could have been in D.C. for the Caps win last night and 30th bday parties), work stress, group dynamics (read this blog: Sin Señal) and more. And I do it all with something that resembles Aleve, people I’ve met only 4 months ago and from 3pm-11pm because I work in the middle of the night to sync up with home work hours. It’s not always rainbows and butterflies while on the road.
The one thing that people don’t always believe about living the Remote Year life is that life does go on and it still does affect us. We are still humans with feelings and are just as affected by life as those back at home, we just have a different backdrop.
And I’d argue that our lives are even more complicated and complex than they were back home. We get up in the morning to embrace a new city, but we also have to do life things (like the laundry, go to the gym, grocery shop, pay bills) and then go to work from 3pm-11pm. We shove two days into one because we want to soak up as much of a city as we can, but even that has a limit. We are human in the end and we occasionally yearn for normalcy and consistency.
Make a Mark
“As you move through this life and this world you change things slightly, you leave marks behind, however small. And in return, life — and travel — leaves marks on you. Most of the time, those marks — on your body or on your heart — are beautiful. Often, though, they hurt.” Anthony Bourdain
But would I go back to my 9–5pm life right now and give up this experience, not for a second. Because what I have been able to experience in just 4 months I will take with me forever and I hope I’ve been able to give back to those I’ve met and the cities I’ve encountered along with way. It’s left a mark on me forever.
Thank You, Tony
“I wanted adventures… I wanted kicks — the kind of melodramatic thrills and chills I’d yearned for since childhood, the kind of adventure I’d found as a little boy in the pages of my Tintin comic books. I wanted to see the world — and I wanted the world to be just like the movies.” Anthony Bourdain
And I have Anthony Bourdain (more commonly known as Tony) to thank for being a part of the reason why I decided to push myself, embrace the unknown, be uncomfortable and experience challenges so that I could be where I am today (currently in the co-working space in Belgrade, Serbia).
I am on my grand adventure, chasing the adventures that I saw Tony experience on his TV shows. And since he is no longer with us the only way I can think to honor him is to keep on moving, keep on traveling, because standing still is no fun for anyone. This year is for you Tony.
“If I’m an advocate for anything, it’s to move. As far as you can, as much as you can. Across the ocean, or simply across the river. The extent to which you can walk in someone else’s shoes or at least eat their food, it’s a plus for everybody. Open your mind, get up off the couch, move.” Anthony Bourdain
Anthony Bourdain was found dead of an apparent suicide while filming the latest season of Parts Unknown in France with his good friend Eric Ripert. If you are having thoughts of suicide please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1–800–273–8255.
