"New Horizons" dharmabum222's Profile

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Wedding Arch, New Suffolk, NY April 18, 2009

Rome, Florence Italy- February 2010
Riviera Maya- 1 year anniversary celebration April 2010

Travel partners

Erik, Palermo~Buenos Aires, Argentina

Oftentimes on my pages and in travelogues I refer to a collective, often ambiguous "we" and the "we" is different depending on the location but it is always one of 2 people.

Erik is my partner in more than travels and has shown me that you do not need to suffer to feel like you are seeing the world. He recognizes that planning a trip is, for me, part of the trip itself... from the obsessive observation of air fare prices months earlier, waking to me practicing my best "good morning" in Swahili before his alarm has even gone off...or pulling another copy of lonely planet off of my face as I snore. He knows the sheer joy that the planning brings me and he lets me go about it, ever the eager participant.

I think that sometimes part of the adventure for him is the not knowing...I am certain that while he would not admit it, there are times when he packs a bag, full of excitement and has no idea what airport we are landing in.

That is trust...

"We" are the perfect partners in our balance. Now we are getting married so that the travels never end!

Westman Islands-Iceland Linnea13

Linnea and I usually sleep in tents and carry backpacks. "We" have slept in places infested with scorpions & been eaten nearly to death by other assortments of insects. There have been times when we sweat ourselves to sleep under a dome of stars in the tropics or shivered into restless slumber in the shadow of a glacier.

Together "we" have witnessed the clumsy grace of breaching humpbacks in the rain, danced on an world bathed in 24 hour daylight and raged to the beat of the earth's pulse as the sun rose over Rio.

All the while living for the adventure and the overcoming of it all and laughing until we cry.

She makes me remember that I have an adventurous side that gets lost sometimes.

Fire

Fire trails, Pacific Northwest USA circa 2004

There are for me things that keep me coming back. Back to the material world and my Monday, Friday 9am,5pm life. I have had escapist drives for years now and sometimes the fire inside of me rages and rumbles until I cannot hear.

Returning from one adventure, world weary and dusty from use, a hot shower and a long sleep & the restless urges come back, sometimes worse than before I left. They fade with the weeks and I come back to a place where I realize the beauty in my life and finding the magic becomes less difficult. The fire inside burns high and steady in mesmerizing flames. I withdraw to spend time near the orange, eyes fixed, like a moth.

I know that I do not want a solitary life, a life on the road... Even if with my partner. I am certain that, for me, I would become more lost than found.

It is a struggle.

As I go through years, I have learned that the fire gives me strength. It is my strength. I am a hard worker and have achieved professional successes, one after another. Those successes lead me closer to my dreams but are not my dreams.

I am bound to family. I look in to the smiling eyes of my infant nephews and have been startled by the tone and sound of my own laughter as it passes my lips. I hear familiar but foreign melodies that I have only known on the road. I can glimpse the world in those little blue eyes and it elicits that same road euphoria for a moment & the fire burns hot, low and steady.

I have learned that the same fire that can deafen me can fuel me.

When the going is tough, it keeps me warm and reminds me that when the day to day becomes too much.... all that I need is a little more air and the world is right around the corner.

Blue Eyes

Trevor & Myles

Trevor

Myles

Intro Updated Feb 9, 2010
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Personal Pages (5)

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Comments (116)

chrispymon Jun 17, 2009 at 6:41 AM Report Abuse

Nicole great pictures of Westman Iceland. My father passed there while on vacation on 4/28/99. My mother was told by the mayor that my father was the first tourist to pass away there in their history. By happenstance I saw that we share b-days
cjg1 Dec 17, 2008 at 4:06 AM Report Abuse

Congratulations Nicole on your future wedding plans. We are mulling over honeymoon ideas at the moment...I'm thinking of just spinning a globe and seeing where it stops to decide...lol
Herkbert Dec 7, 2008 at 12:24 PM Report Abuse

Happy birthday, Nicole! Hope your day is a special one. Enjoyed looking at your homepage too!
omran Dec 7, 2008 at 10:00 AM Report Abuse

Happy birthday to you take care :O)
jethanand Dec 7, 2008 at 8:43 AM Report Abuse

Happy birthday dharma ... keep cozy
Mikebond Dec 7, 2008 at 7:18 AM Report Abuse

Happy birthday Nicole! Your homepage is very interesting. Greetings from Italy, Michele
flyrubi Jun 9, 2008 at 12:04 AM Report Abuse

Jambo Nicole, Can see Kenya is in the plans for this year. Welcome or Karibu sana.
grumpybum May 30, 2008 at 4:27 AM Report Abuse

Glad to see you are back ON sushi .... what is worrying - how could you ever go OFF sushi in the first place :-) Enjoyed your photos ... I don't think we are related - just happen to have the same surname, he, he!!
88Starflite Mar 20, 2008 at 7:00 AM Report Abuse

I saw a bear, in the wild, while driving near Sedona AZ.. It came as a nice surprise. Hope you get to see one!
Marisola Mar 20, 2008 at 6:56 AM Report Abuse

Interesting Autobiography... the I's and the My's! Dubai this year?! Lucky girl!!!