"You can't miss it..."

Thus far, the UK has really overestimated us.

Everyone says this when we ask for directions: "You can't miss it." The locals are widely and inappropriately confident in our ability to navigate their streets thus far. Or perhaps, when someone says these words to us, they're actually jinxing us. Because somehow, we always end up missing our turn, taking the train/bus too far, walking past our destination, not walking far enough, ending up in Taunton, etc. (Keep in mind, we're only in the English speaking countries so far...). Not to mention, when a local says to us, "It's just on the doorstep of your hostel," I now know to prepare myself for a good 6-30 mile (excuse me, kilometer) jaunt. But this is the beauty of traveling, is it not?

We are such obvious travelers. When backpacking, I don't see any possibility of "blending in." Everyone stops to see if we need help, as we trudge through their streets, weighted down with our belongings, trying to find where they put the street signs in this city.

Rule #2 when traveling: Save your picture-taking and marveling at the beautiful city for after you've dropped off your bags at the locker/hostel/home at which you're staying. I realize that as you walk from the train station/airport, etc, you're walking through a new, captivating, and impressive city, and you want to take in all the sights as they come at you. But don't stop. Resist the urge. Do not pass go. Do not collect £200. Because the minute you start taking time to smell the roses, take in the scenery, inevitably causing you to walk a bit slower with your big backpacks upon your back (it does not matter that you're hardcore and can carry them with more ease after nearly 2 weeks of doing this day-in and day-out), one of four things will happen:
1) Every 3.5 locals will stop and ask if you know where you're going. (This would be very helpful, if they didn't all seem to give different sets of vague directions);
2) The elderly will swarm up in front of you and then walk slowly in a huddle, making it impossible for you to do anything BUT stand around in the same spot for a good half and hour (forget being lost, now it's "lost and immobile");
3) Cars driving in the opposite direction than you're used to will clip you as they speed by, unimpressed with how much you're trying to appreciate their city; or
4) People will push you down and kids will throw rocks at you. (Ok, that last one hasn't actually happened to us, or anyone that I know of.)

Before I embarked upon this backpacking excursion, someone told me it was worthwhile to get lost in each big city. After unintentionally experiencing this more times than they probably meant to recommend, in addition to reflecting on times I've been lost in the past, I now consider this pretty good advice.

When the locals tell us, "you can't miss it," it turns out that in the grand scheme of things there lies a deep and profound truth.

Because honestly, life happens everywhere. Truth and God can be found in all places, all people, all situations, all things (John 1:3). In our jobs, our sports teams, our regular coffee spot, our movie theatres, our banks, our travels, our vacations, our visits home: life is happening in all of these places, and in all of these places growth and learning and wisdom can all be obtained and experienced.

We've been meeting so many great people on our journey thus far. It's a dream to be on a great and exciting adventure, filled with new sights and incredible places each day. Yet as I sit with such beautiful and captivating people in these cities that are so foreign and glamorous to my American eyes, I realize that my vacation spot is in fact their home, and that my home, a place I am often tempted to view as mundane and unglamorous, could be their 'escape from it all' someday, or hypothetically. And if I can travel abroad and find places others know to be home, then, vis a vis, a place can be either spectacular or monotonous - which one seems only to depend upon the eyes perceiving and perhaps the company one keeps in those places.

"Monotony has nothing to do with a place; monotony, either in its sensation or its infliction, is simply the quality of a person. There are no dreary sights; there are only dreary sightseers." - G.K. Chesterton

We seek so much for direction and answers to where we should plan to be tomorrow, but perhaps life can meet us exactly where we are. And indeed it does. We wait anxiously for that which we deem glamorous, but life/our purpose(s) in life begin here and now, in the day to day, even in the mundane.

If you wish to live, to love, to learn, to have adventures, to be happy, to rest more, to make amends...

...begin now. Begin here, where you are at this very moment. The only thing stopping you is the way you see your surroundings and the people around you. Life is happening here as well as that future time you're dreaming of, and this is the moment you have for certain. Don't tread lightly as if you will miss your exit or turn and end up forever wandering in an abyss. Sometimes getting lost (in a new city or life itself) is the best way to find our way. Sometimes the unplanned adventures and uncharted paths are the most exciting, and turn into the most precious of memories.

But also remember: life is filled with opportunities for u-turns, or perhaps you can simply make a turn up at the next crossing and to the right (or left) in order to regain the original path. The point is, you really can't miss it: life, that is, in addition to opportunities to take joy in life, to love the people around you, to have adventures.

Regardless of the road you take, life is happening right there where you are, right here next to us in our present time, in our present locations. There are people to serve, to love, to listen to and learn from, to find beauty in, all around us. The only condition that needs changing is our ability to see and take advantage of the opportunities at hand.

"An adventure is only an inconvenience rightly considered. An inconvenience is merely an adventure wrongly considered." -G.K. Chesterton

“Half the fun of the travel is the aesthetic of lostness.” –Ray Bradbury