I haven't finished moving all my stuff out of the house or unpacking all of the boxes in the apartment. Some boxes are simple like shoes (shoe rack in transit) or kitchen gadgets. Other boxes have memories deeply tied to them, our wedding photos, sentimental wedding presents, pieces of our adventures. Last night as I was going through a mostly mundane bag of things, I stumbled onto something that brought up positive memories of travel and adventure. You know the song in Aladdin - "A Whole New World"? The Line I can show you the world, shining shimmering, splendid- that's what my husband did. He showed me so many places I would never have thought to go on my own, he opened up the idea of big travel to me. We were really good at taking on adventures together. It was nice to be reminded of that.
When I've traveled internationally, I never manage to use all the currency I had exchanged, usually small coins are left over and saved if I ever go back. So it make sense that I would have 61cents Canadian, 4.40 Rand, 5.64 Euro, 97 Pence and 1200 Costa Rican Colones, all told an equivalent of $10.37 USD. But what I cannot figure out is how I ended up with 6 Lempiras from Honduras or 10 Bulgarian Lev. I've never been to either of those places and cannot remember how I ended up with this currency. But they will be saved a long with my other random coins should I go or go back.
As someone who has spent all but 6 months of my life living in a northern boarder state, the Canadian is a normal part of existing.
The Colones are from the trip I took with my mom when she and my dad were getting divorced. - Mom maybe we should go again. Travel issues aside that trip was amazing. Waking up to the beach every day, fresh fruit, tacos, zip lining and attempting to learn to surf. I have so many good memories from that trip.
The Rand is from the first BIG trip he and I took together. He had brought me out to meet his parents just a few months after we met and we took a weekend get a way to the mountains, but this was international. I joked with people I was shocked he wanted to keep dating me after I got pulled over for speeding in South Africa and cried my way out of being bribed by crocked cops. The trip was interesting we learned a lot about each other and I learned a lot about planning international travel. I'd only ever planned the Costa Rican trip with my mom before this was all new. I'd like to believe I've made a lot of progress since that first trip. I would absolutely go back to South Africa again.
The Euros could be from a few different trips, either when we got engaged in Germany or when we were in Brussels and Paris. By guess would be Germany as I spent the most with coins in the Christmas Markets. I could go to Christmas Markets in Europe every Christmas and be completely content. I know I want to go back to Germany at Christmas eventually. Redefine my memories and narrative with that experience. Brussels I would pick up everything and move to if someone offered it, maybe thats because on that trip I can only compare it to Paris and I really didn't like Paris. That is one place I have no desire to go back to.
Pence- the trip to London. I got to see Hamilton in London and that was a treat that I will never forget. I really enjoyed the War Museums. As someone who is fascinated by WW2 history there was a lot to see an do in London. I'd like to explore and visit other parts of England and would certainly go back.
As for the Lev and the Lempiras, I've never been to either country, but maybe this is a seed to plant for future adventures.
1 more box unpacked. 1 small step towards creating my new adventure.
C
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