with the eternal words 'run fool!' tattooed on my arm

it has been 34 months and 18 countries since i first came to istanbul.  i've finished dozens of classes and lived in six different apartments.  i've seen more of this city than most people probably even knew existed.  and now its time to leave.

as its been said, this is not my final goodbye from the city.  i love it too much.  i love the location and i love the smell of chestnuts.  i'm taking a year to travel and i'm going to unpack my bags on four different continents this year.  when i come back i'll be ready to begin anew and set my eyes towards a different land; one which we all hail from.

i've been making plans for the first two months of my journal through nepal and whereas i've become very good at planning in recent times i feel like i've found my personal limits.  actually i dont know what i'm going to do when i arrive in new delhi and i have only vague ideas of how i'm going to get to the border of nepal.  i kind of like it that way.  ive made a promise to myself to never become frustrated on this journey but rather see life as it is; a constant flow.  something called me to travel to the land of the holy himalaya and i'll put myself under it's guidance.

when i saw the days growing smaller i started to think that i should have a formal goodbye to the people i've come to know in recent history but they probably understand me better than that.  albeit cliche, i'm not big on goodbyes.  maybe thats just how things will be this time, i'll just vanish like i always do.

on the subject of those dear to me, i am overwhelmingly excited to see my tribe back home.  the distance between us has grown so great that i can hardly believe it.  i miss everybody so much and i can't wait to share our stories.  if things go well i'll be home twice this year, once in september and again for the holidays.  i can't wait to sit at the same corner of that bar downtown i always sit at while waiting to see my friends for the first time in seven months.  it will be a slower visit this time with more room for catching up; i have no work contract to return to.  i can watch september turn into october and as my internal clock prepares for the coming of autumn i will again leave and head south where it is just becoming spring.  my internal clock gave up on me long ago.  i still wake up having no idea where or when i am.

i'm a minimalist.  if you see the size of alice, my backpack, and how she is only 2/3 her capacity you would be baffled how one could wander off with so little.  its not a lesson i taught myself but a principal i've learned long ago from a dear friend of mine who i hope is reading this today, "never underestimate the power of simplicity".  those words have never lead me wrong and in fact have become the fabric of the sails from which i build my life.

this is just rambling to myself, the last of many esoteric messages that i always leave to this old publication before heading off into my adventures.  when i can write again i'll have traveled to a faraway land and started the first steps of a long journey.  be bold.