Shilpa Krish

People often say that you find yourself when you travel, but what I didn’t realize is that finding yourself first requires losing yourself. So much of how we define ourselves is based on external factors: our hometown, our families, our friends, our jobs, our hobbies, etc. When you travel alone for a long period of time, you lose or gain separation from all of those external pillars of identity. Still, there’s something left behind, something familiar that you keep and carry with you from place to place. And that’s who you really are.

At the time of writing this, I’ve been traveling for about five months, from Mexico to Spain to Greece to Turkey to Thailand and finally to Cambodia. I’m heading to Vietnam next week, which will be my last country on my trip. I wanted to write a bit about the experience here, to help chronicle some of the people, places, and experiences that have made the past five months so beautiful. Some people have also asked me about my travels and what I’ve been up to, so if you’re reading, thank you. And I hope that if you haven’t already and want to, you can one day go on an adventure of your own.