Dec 22, 20165 min read

I’ve always dreamt of…

Updated: Nov 16, 2019

‘That’s so exciting! I’ve always dreamt of travelling the world.’

‘I’m going to live vicariously through you.’

‘Would you pack me in your suitcase?’

These were the most common reactions I received when I finally announced to my extended friends and colleagues that I was going to travel the world. The next reaction was the ‘what are you looking for?’.

I’ve always dreamt of travelling the world…

Anyone can live their dream ‘if they really want to’.

I know it can be much more comfortable ‘not’ to create and live your dreams. Why? because it ‘appears’ easier. There may be some form of underlying fear. Procrastination and reasons of why you can’t, are typical forms of resistance.

If you truly want to, anyone can travel the world for a year or do anything else you choose. In the short time I’ve been travelling, I’ve already met a significant number of people living their dreams to travel. It can be done and they’ve made it happen. It takes work, it takes risks, it takes exposing yourself and it takes trust.

Once you unveil the underlying belief or fear and question your reasons ‘not to’ you’ll be amazed at how your thoughts and thought processes change and how suddenly the impossible becomes possible.

Making my dream come true didn’t happen overnight. It was a combination of deciding what I wanted and taking steps to make it happen.

Additionally, I was consciously aware that there was something bigger than me helping me in the background. Something ‘intangible’, ‘explainable’ but ‘knowing’. Something divine pulling me in this direction and a knowing it was the right thing to do.

I can’t seem to pinpoint exactly when and where I decided to take this leap. What I do know, is that it’s always been in the back of my mind, just like the initial reactions received, ‘I’ve always dreamt of…’ but it was only in 2015 that a genuine ‘belief’ that I ‘could’ achieve this, started to take shape over a conversation with a dear friend.

We were in a cafe in Surrey, England simply catching up on our lives and dreams.

This same friend told me a few years earlier, when you know what you want and take action, the universe will open doors.

Many times I found myself thinking, why aren’t the doors flowing open, what else do I need to do to make them fly open?!?! So, to her wise words, I would add , ‘you must also have an underlying ‘belief’ and your subconscious must be aligned with what you consciously ‘say’ you want.

Once these are aligned and your ‘higher consciousness’, ‘ the universe’, or whatever you’d like to call it, support you, there’s no stopping what you can achieve. I’m excited to say I’ve finally seen the doors fly open!

I admit that for about four months after that conversation, I didn’t take any tangible action. It was just ‘a conversation’, but the wheels seemed to be moving into place late 2015 and early 2016.

In 2015 I became acquainted with a person very experienced in energy work and highly intuitive and at the back end of 2015, out of the blue, he said to me something to the effect ‘are you planning any big trips?’, and ‘I feel you’re going to be travelling soon, away from South Florida’.

Of course my initial thoughts were, maybe extensive travel for work again, maybe another relocation, but there was none foreseen on the horizon. I tried not to think too much about his insights as it would be very easy to over analyze and I’d miss the point altogether.

About this time, doors started flowing open…

Although there was no reason or logic, in January, I made an ‘off the cuff’ decision to sell my flat. By the end of March the flat was no longer mine. Well that came in handy!
In January I signed up for basic Spanish lessons; I did live in South Florida after all. This of course would now be useful in my travels.
I began planting the seed of this idea to close family and friends to ensure I wouldn’t cause sudden heart palpitations later on.
I had an in depth conversation with another close friend early in the year and her response was ‘by the look on your face there is no decision to make’. When I openly talked, the passion was written on my face, I couldn’t wipe the smile off and my heart swelled.
By then end of January something shifted in my conscious awareness [and thought process] and I just ‘knew’ in my cells and entire being that I was going to be travelling. It’s very difficult to articulate in words but it’s when you become aware of what you’ve always known, but hadn’t realized you knew it. It’s a ‘knowing’.

At this point thoughts and ideas of where to go, where to start and what I needed to do began to take shape.

There were certainly times I procrastinated and resisted, but I did this with a very clear awareness.

For example, rehashing the financial and employment implications, asking questions like ‘should I put this off for five years’.

See…it’s easier not to move forward. Although I already knew the answer, one day, I just asked out loud while I was driving to work: ‘is this the right time?’, ‘should I hold off?’ ‘just give me a sign I cannot refuse to know or ‘analyze’.

The definitive answer came, that very day, everything was falling into place, I really had no more excuses!

The start of my brainstorming on poster size sticky notes!

Brainstorm, Planning & Logistics

What are you looking for?

What do you expect at the end of this trip?

This is an interesting question and I think you have to understand what’s inside the mind of the person asking.

For some, this question implies that you are ‘looking’ for something, you’re ‘missing’ something or haven’t ‘found’ yourself.

For me, this is not about travelling for the sake of travel and I certainly cannot cover all the places I’d like to see in one year. I’ve been incredibly fortunate to have already travelled extensively and regardless of any challenges I’ve faced in my life, I’m grateful for the life I have and the person I am.

I’ve taken this leap simply because this is a dream I wanted to fulfill. I choose this.

I also felt pulled by an external force, again something bigger, intangible but ‘knowing’ deep in my cells that this was the right thing to do, at the right time.

How could I ignore everything that just fell into place? Where I will land and what my life will look like when I finish remains to be seen, but I believe it’s leading me into the next phase of my life.

Of course I have ideas of what I think I want, but I am always open to surprise, bring them on!

I, of course, did some brainstorming about what I wanted to experience during my travels, which I share with you below. I refer back to this on occasion to ensure I stay focused and to ensure I meet my expectations throughout this journey.