Epilogue – Rewind
EPILOGUE
REWIND
The Official Acknowledgements Section
I’d like to continue with a theme that has been pervasive throughout – gratitude. So yeah, go ahead and consider this the acknowledgements section…
Behind every photo, every phrase written here, every experience… blood, sweat, and tears have been shed. And I’m not talking just about the ones I shed – it’s the ones my patients shed as I worked my ass off to save for this big trip. I worked one hundred-hour weeks for months on end just so I could do whatever I want and have no regrets. So to them, I owe my first thanks.
I could potentially also thank my friends and relatives for supporting me in my decision to leave everything behind in order to pursue this other passion, but who am I kidding? I would’ve done it anyways. Hell, I would’ve done it way harder otherwise. I am, however, gonna thank them for helping me out with keeping my stuff in order whilst I was gone and for keeping me updated and in the loop all throughout. So there you go, thanks.
To the Pros
A big, huge thank you goes to all the professionals I dealt with during this trip. Like those that were involved in getting me around. Hundreds of taxis, chicken buses, shuttles, boat rides, and flights. I originally wanted to keep count of all the means of transport I’d be using throughout this trip but then I figured I had way better things to do. Shout out to Captain Hoover – the best damn sailor these seas have ever seen!
Then there’s all the hosts that I had the honour of staying with. Hundreds of hotels, hostels, lodges, cabanas, and tents. My favourite? Definitely Rosaria way back in Flores who was not only one of the kindest people I have ever met, but she also had to put up with doing my laundry after my five-day trek in El Mirador. May God bless her soul.
All the guides I had the pleasure to join along my trip. Hundreds of tours around ruins, jungles, beaches, cities, deserts, glaciers, mountains, and volcanoes. For this category, no one stands out more than any other, except for Kevin, to whom I owe no gratitude. Last but not least? All the instructors I had the pleasure to learn from. From Giovanni who taught me my Open Water diving course to everyone else at Underwater Vision who got me all the way to becoming a divemaster; from Lou who showed me the ropes of windsurfing to Boris who got me to ride my first waves ever, I owe a lot to these select few in particular. Thank you so, so much. You have no idea how grateful I am.
To the Friends
And then… Then there are all the people I’ve met throughout this trip. Ones that came and went, ones that hung out for a while, and ones that have become family. People from all walks of life who share this deep appreciation of travelling and experiencing the world. I could mention every single person, or, much like an honest parent, I’m gonna go ahead and mention some of my favourites:
The Bloodclaat Gang in Belize and our nights partying in the Sports Bar.
The El Mirador Family in Guatemala with whom I shared one of the best experiences of my life.
Andreas and the Brunette staff in El Salvador.
Jennie whom I met in Costa Rica who shares my love and passion for nature.
The Antarctica Fam who braved the icy continent with me.
The Neptune One Gang with whom I bonded over diving.
And, leaving my favourites for last… The Underwater Vision family back in Honduras, with Amelia being the best of the best and the total MVP of the entire trip.
Back when I started, I had no intention of making friends. This trip was about getting to know the world and not more people. I had way more than enough friends already. But these guys? These guys made me realise what I had been missing out on. I am so immeasurably lucky to have met each and every one of them. Thank youuu for existing!
To the Universe & Beyond
Damn, being thankful is tiring. But we’re almost there. I want to thank the universe and science for creating everything that I had the immense honour of seeing and experiencing. I’m not gonna list it all down again.
I am, however, just gonna say that I never thought I’d get to dive in such beautiful coral reefs, walk in such lush tropical forests, climb over volcanoes, swim in cenotes, cross arid deserts, trek over glaciers, or get to hike all over Patagonia. Oh, and the sunsets at the Pacific and the Caribbean. Time and time again I’d be standing in front of such magnificent vistas wondering how on earth such things could possibly come to be. The randomness of the universe is something I still find a hard time explaining. How could all of of this be meaningless and random and spontaneous? Maybe there is such a thing as a God after all. Whatever it is, whether it’s a divine entity or just the almighty universe, I am eternally grateful for everything I got to see. Thank you.
One final thank you goes to the one person that has made all of this possible. The one person that has sacrificed everything to go on this trip. The one person who worked his ass off in order to be able to afford it. The one person who had planned everything down to the very last detail only to upend everything on a whim. The one person who pushed himself to his very limits to do as many things as possible in such limited time. The one person who rarely, if ever, said ‘no’ to new experiences and challenges. The one person who let go of his comfort zones to become something he never even saw coming. The one person who left a Katy Cat and came back a Swiftie. The one person who survived a year fraught with many seemingly insurmountable victories. Me.
The Twelve-Country Symphony
There has to be a conclusion at some point. As much as it pains me to write this part, marking the end of this journey, I have to get on with it.
Just like that, I was the latest victim of time. All throughout the year, I had been meeting people who had either just started or were about to finish their trips. Suddenly, it was finally my time. My gap year was over whilst countless people I had met on the road would still go about their journeys.
Before coming back from my trip, I wondered how I could possibly go back home after such a wild ride. Every single country seemed to make up a melody that in the end would sound like the most mellifluous song I had ever heard. A song of ice, fire, earth, air, water, metal, lightning, darkness. One year, twelve countries. I have traversed across tropical jungles, coursed over frozen glaciers, trekked over steep mountains, scrambled up active volcanoes, sailed over the roughest of seas, climbed over waterfalls, waded through bogs, crossed over rivers, roamed in arid deserts, and dived in underwater havens.
A song that has transcended through time itself as I saw life through ancient ruins and buildings that have withstood the test of time and indigenous tribes that take it upon themselves to carry into perpetuity the teachings of their ancestors. A song that healed and restored my soul as I lay on a hammock by a tropical beach or found myself suspended deep within the depths of the ocean. A song of hardship and suffering as I broke myself trying to get to where I wanted or tried to figure out what it is that will make me happy.
A song that’s played in harmony by all the kindred spirits I have met on this journey – like-minded people from all walks of life who share this one passion, this unquenchable thirst to explore the world and enjoy everything it has to offer. I danced and sang, cried and laughed, jumped and ran. I experienced highs and lows, discovered happiness and encountered sadness, lost myself and found another one. And most of all, I reunited with the kid inside me that had seemingly disappeared. A song about living – the real kind of living.
My gap year might be over, but my journey isn’t. Now that this one song has reached its end, I am excited for the one that follows. I can look back onto this experience and say that it was the best song on the record thus far, and whilst that might be true, only God knows what else is in store for me. And I am excited about that. That is how I made my peace with it.