To sum it up…I was supposed to be leaving Spain for Denver sometime next week. After six months traveling throughout Italy and Spain, my life has come to the most amazing and beautiful place. Well, physically speaking I’ve been in so many countless beautiful places, but the most fantastic of them all that I am referring to is….(drum-roll please)….my heart, my life!
Traveling has brought to life so many things in me that I didn’t even realize were almost dead. Lying unconscious and almost forgotten below society’s blows and my own fearful insecurities, they slowly have been resuscitated to the point of not just living, but full-on jumping out of my skin! All that I continuously am learning about myself and others has become my life-source of creativity. May sound cheesy, yet the saying is true for a reason…I have never been happier and more overjoyed. I own no real estate anywhere, not even a bed or a dresser; my clothes are in boxes in a friend’s basement, my “office” consist of a corduroy shoulder bag and local cafe with WiFi, and my clothing options come from a single REI duffel bag on wheels.
For some, it may seem that I have little. However, I feel that I have so much! Rich cultural experiences and astounding deep friends from London, Milan, Rome, Venice, Florence, Abruzzo, Tuscany, Calabria, Puglia, Seville, Cadiz, Rota, Madrid, Gijon, Higuera la Real, Granada, and my favorite now – Oviedo, Asturias! Hmmm…and I may be leaving a place or two out…When I think back on all I have seen, it is no wonder to me that from all the beauty I have seen, I am living my life feeling like I am in love…in love with myself, in love with God, in love with life and people. And I’m saying this as a free and single woman who is not even interested in dating.
Is it any surprise that I’ve decided…I’m not going back to the US. Doors continue to open for me to visit friends, new and old, in more parts of Spain and other areas of Europe. Cost of living is actually cheaper for me here and this lifestyle is nurturing my resurrected passions: writing, singing and music, traveling and people!
So I am excited and thrilled to announce that I will be continuing to write about my experiences and travel from Europe. To celebrate and mark this occasion, I am changing the name of my travel blog to “Amalia Travel” and in efforts to tie in my personal blog “Amalia Vida“. The web address is staying the same for now (http://ethnostravel.wordpress.com) and will later be redirected to the new title-matching address in the near future. So fear not! You’ll still be able to find it and I sincerely hope you continue to follow along and share it with others. And if you’re into Facebook, hope you visit and “Like” my page, Travel & Life Writing.
I love the meaning of names and words so I’m always looking to utilize that unique, hardly-ever-heard-of name or reference. After trying a variety of other words and names in my businesses and work, I’m deciding to apply one of the new lessons I have been learning from traveling this year: to be authentically myself and speak from what I know best, myself. Thus the change of name to Amalia Travel. I don’t have egotistical notions of it being all about me. I simply have learned first-hand and continue to see everyday in my life, that to really enjoy life and others, I need to know and enjoy myself. Then I know what I have to give to others from who I am.
Thank you so much for coming along with me on this journey by reading and sharing my writings, befriending me in my travels, and inspiring me through what you share of yourself here on my blog. And to all those who with good intentions told me “experience it now while you can”, “oh, you have to be rich to travel so much…”, and “how nice that you’re going and getting this out of your system“. Well, to everyone their own, but I knew when I started this trip and I know even more-so now…that’s not how this works, that’s not who I want to be…this trip was the beginning of a new chapter of my life. This isn’t a one-time thing, it’s my lifestyle. It’s who I am: Amalia.
