By telling us your country of residence we are able to provide you with the most relevant travel insurance information.
Please note that not all content is translated or available to residents of all countries. Contact us for full details.
Shares
As I sit on the lonely Amsterdam bench I feel how distant I am from my home. Yet, was that really my home? This strange city feels more real to me then the place I came from ever did. The lone-ness may feel formidable, yet, the hard bench I sit upon has transformed into a bed of flowers. I watch as the many people go by, wondering what their lives are like, where they are going, who they miss, and I think to myself how wonderful it is to be alive. A thought that doesn't occur in my brain as often as it should. As lonely as it may be, To travel, is like sipping the contents of different galaxies. Drinking them into you. So part of something, yet so separate. It's a true art museum. Not man made and pinned together. But real and visceral, reminding us of the Heart of Humanity. Making us remember that it still beats. And reminding me that I'm not different from anyone. That we are all made up of each-others particles. I sit, waiting for something. I do not know what, or who, or why. I just feel this urge that I'm suppose to be here.. and then she comes, let's call her The Duchess. She asked for a lighter in a language so familiar to her but so distant to me. I looked up with wide eyes, pulled from my own rhythms, and not knowing how to respond to her Dutch melody. 'I'm sorry', I say, wishing I sang Dutch. Praying that somehow I'd so suddenly be fluent in her language. Finally understanding the true meaning of loss for words. 'Oh', she said, 'I thought you were Dutch.' All I could do was laugh. Excited I didn't look like a tourist, and confused that it actually looked like I knew what I was doing. She began again. The same introduction with a different tune. 'Hi I'm Lucy, can I borrow your lighter?' Brilliant and bubbly and kind. Lucy, the woman with many words. And me, the woman with none. Is this how friendship is supposed to start? I think it just might be. Twenty-Two, full of loss, and so desperate for connection, that I packed up my things into a blue backpack, and bought a one way ticket to Europe. In search of what? I wasn't sure. Something greater then a life of renowned repetitions. The same cycles over and over and over again. The same people. Yet, if you asked me why I came here at the time I set sail, or even the time, I stepped off the ship. I could not give you a proper answer. My only answer being, 'There is something I have to find.' And looking back now, I have come to realize that this connection gave me my answer. It wasn't necessarily Friendship I was looking for, or Love, or Adventure, or Connection, or even Finding Myself. It was Moments, immaculately immense Moments. That remind us all that there is Hope for Humanity. That we are still ALIVE.