Got the World in Your Hands and Anything is Possible

Over a year ago, Ross and I sat outside in our carport Northern Virginia. It was warm out, we had a bottle of wine, and we were kicking back and relaxing. It was this night we began to think about where we were. Was this it? Was this where we would be for a long time? With these questions we began to see our opportunities. We could do anything.

A few months later the negative effects of the economy really began to hit America. More talk about job security began. But we had planted the seed in our heads that this was our time. And we weren’t letting anything stop us. And I mean anything. And there we were in July of 2009. Quit our jobs, took the risk of no insurance and no income, moved out of our house in Virginia, sold what furniture we had, and we left. We prepared for this, no doubt. We saved a lot of money. Stopped little things like buying lunch everyday of the work week, went out to bars less often, ate out less often, only bought what we needed. We paid off any debt we had. We were set. We went down to Hilton Head, encountered a life experience, scarier than anything I’d thought I would ever go through. But in the end, although it seemed to instill some unnecessary fear, I like to believe things happen for a reason and maybe we were safer and smarter in Europe because of it.

Our 2 months across the Atlantic were amazing. You read along with us, you know. But really, the blog posts and pictures we posted along the way, do not do it enough justice. I recommended to those of you out there to find the time in your life to do something like this. It’s one hundred percent totally worth it.

Now here we are. Over six months after we left Virginia. We are employed and living in a beautiful townhouse about two miles from the beach. Most days are sunny and in the sixties or seventies (in the winter). I never have to wear socks. I enjoy this luxury. I can open windows everyday and take a two minute walk up the hill and see the ocean. I couldn’t ask for more.

Overall I really saw and I really learned that anything is possible. You can drop everything and if you prepare yourself and set your mind to it, you will succeed. We didn’t do anything special, we didn’t have millions of dollars saved up, and we didn’t just get lucky. We succeeded because we wanted to do something like this. And now we take with us these past six months of traveling, meeting amazing people from all over the world, seeing the world itself and all its beauty, and making a life for ourselves on the opposite side of the country we grew up in. It’s an amazing feeling.

So to officially conclude this blog, of our journey to end 2009 and begin 2010, we did it. We are here in San Diego, California. I hope you enjoyed our little way of letting you travel with us through our writing and photos. But I really hope you find it someday, if you haven’t, to do something like this. Because when you take the world in your hands…Anything is Possible.

SixMileBridge to America

Our adventure in Europe ends in a tiny Irish town, twenty minutes from Shannon Airport. SixMileBridge, with almost as many pubs as people, was centered around a small square which then led us to our final hostel called the Jamaica Inn.   The hostel was oddly large for such a small place and we were probably one of about seven guests. But in this small Irish town, while it was cool and rainy outside (Irish weather), it was sort of cozy. We wandered the streets for a restaurant to grab something to eat when we decided to try a pub at the far corner of the square. Upon entering we discovered they did not serve food but we were welcomed in by the Irish men drinking whiskey and Guinness and invited to have a drink. So we sat down and had our first glasses of Guinness since we began our trip in Dublin.

We mainly cooked in the large kitchen in our hostel and befriended a Scottish salesman named Scott who was staying there as well. We spent much time in the hostel talking to Scott and hanging out in the common room watching tv.

On the morning of September 9th, we woke early to catch a cab to the airport. Leaving our old Irish town we were sad the trip was actually coming to an end but eager to return to our country.  We arrived in Newark Airport around 11:30 am and spent the night in Clifton at my grandparent’s house to relax before part two of our adventure…moving out west to the sunny California coast in San Diego.

 

~ Anna

Vanishing Venice

We didn’t stay in the city of Venice because our flight to Ireland was actually from the smaller Treviso airport. On top of that Venice’s prices, for a reason we later found out, were too high. We ended up booking a place called Bed and Breakfast Tony in a tiny town outside Treviso called Silea. Tony knew absolutely no English, which was not a first for us, and most communication was translated through his son Enrico by phone. Tony picked us up in his own car from the train station and drove us out to his place. The Bed and Breakfast was an attachment on his house, which later we found out were merely guest bedrooms he used to use for family and the large kitchen/dining area was used for large family dinners. He recently in the past 5 month converted this section into his small bed and breakfast. As we exited his car, he walked to the front of his yard, under grape vines, and picked us a few bunches of fresh sweet grapes and a large handful of ripe figs.

 

The atmosphere was more like being a guest in someone’s home than a hotel atmosphere. Our last night there we spent sitting with him and a long term guest, who was more like family to him now as it seemed and drank some of his homemade wine he made from the sweet grapes we had on the day of our arrival. The guest was a twenty something year old Venezuelan girl who spoke English and sat and talked with us, while Tony mostly listened and talked through her to us.

Our second day in Silea, we ventured out by train into the beautiful city of Venice. The Regatta Storica Grand Canal was taking place that day, which we found out as we approached a mass crowd surrounding the canal. This was also the reason for the extra crowds in the city that day and for the higher hotel costs.

We spent our day either mingling with the crowds of tourists or trying to take the tiny cobblestone side streets winding around the many canals to explore Venice.  Although it was extra crowded it was a treat to be able to see some of the Regatta while standing on one of the main bridges. The boats were beautiful and many colors. 

 

After we were hungry and decided to try out some pizza at a nearby shop. It was the best pizza, by far, that we ate on this trip and it was wonderful. We then went to the main square where people are fascinated with the many pigeons there, putting food in their palms and reaching out so the birds land on their hands, arms, heads, backs, whichever. Then we walked along to the main canal by the water, concluding our day taking in the lovely view and then catching our train back to Silea.