As I sit here in this tiny airport in the Himalayas, I realize what a long, strange trip is has been.

I left the US over a month ago, and have had a vast number of experiences so far. Yesterday, I had the realization that I have only “worked” in the traditional sense for a total of 4 months this year. Considering that I’ve lived in NYC and traveled to Austin, Baltimore, DC, Los Angeles, San Diego, Boulder, Thailand, Fire Island, India, and so many other locations along the way – it was a rather awesome moment.

India has been a phenomenal time so far. We’ve traveled from Delhi → Ranthambore → Udaipur → Jodhpur → Chandigarh → Dharamsala → Trivandrum → Alleppey and now to Kochi, and have had unforgettable experiences along the way.

Little amounts of money go a long way in these parts of the world, and it hit me that working a middle-income job for a year could easily allow a person the opportunity to travel for at least the same amount of time if you save and spend wisely.

Embarking on this journey, I had commit to myself that I was going to try and write daily, and aim to publish posts on a more frequent basis. This has proven far more difficult than I could have imagined. To be fair, internet connectivity has really jammed me up more than once, particularly in terms of uploading photos, but at the end of the day it is still an excuse. While traveling, there is an endless amount of things to do, places to see, and people to meet – and I’ve chosen to do those things instead of writing.

I’ve found that the longer I wait to write, the more difficult the actual process of writing becomes, largely due to the feeling that I have an insurmountable amount upon which to catch up on. As a result, the few times I have written the quality of my stories have suffered and I have not enjoyed the process as I’ve simply been listing things that happened in my struggle to catch up to the present.

The past few days, the blog has felt more like a past due homework assignment than what it was meant to be, a fun way of sharing stories with friends and recording memories. The self-imposed weight has caused me some stress and has prevented me from being fully present and focusing on the intentions I had set for this trip. Stress and not being fully present – particularly when traveling – are two of my least favorite things.  As a result, I have decided to take a break from the blog until I get back home and am excited to write again.

For the few folks that follow along, I appreciate you, and look forward to sharing more stories soon!

Much love,

Sahil