Go big and go home.

I have the tendency to go big and then go home – bear with me. I am no fan of small gestures, I mean, yes of course, in everyday life, small gestures are fine and important, but generally I love big gestures. They require planning, anticipation and endless amounts of patience but most importantly, big gestures require imagination. I was brought up in a society, where big gestures weren’t the norm, as a matter of fact, if you received the tiniest of gestures, you could count yourself lucky. But my parents knew that I craved big gestures and they would follow through, whenever they could. For my 16th birthday my mom ordered the biggest birthday cake in the most obscene pink she could find (and as I am sure, I said a hundred times before, for my 18th birthday my parents organized an amazing surprise-birthday party for me).

And so I continued down that path. Once I was legally an adult, thereby responsible for myself, I didn’t just move out of my parent’s house, I moved halfway across the world with a single suitcase and no idea what would await me. When I turned 21, I didn’t just go to Las Vegas to legally gamble and drink, I had to freaking jump out of an airplane which to this day terrifies me beyond words. Don’t believe me? Here’s your proof: Me being scared senseless.

 

 

But to be honest, it’s been a while since I did anything out of the ordinary, I mean other than getting tattooed in Mumbai the day I was leaving India last September. And no, I didn’t plan on getting inked, I was just with my friend and before I knew it, I was in the chair, feeling a pulsating needle on my left ankle. Generally, I’m not impulsive, I’ve wanted a tattoo ever since I could remember, I just never dared actually getting one, so best to get one while you’re waiting for a monsoon to pass, right? Also, I should probably mention that I was inked by one of India’s most famous artists and, in case you were wondering, everything was sanitary and I did not walk away with any health problems.

So, what’s next? On my many world adventures, I’ve done and seen a lot, so what is left to get me going, you may wonder. Well, I tell you: In about a month A and I are getting our backpacks on (well, A’s not much of a backpack guy, so he’ll probably take a regular suitcase) and we are heading out to see the world. I’ve told you a few months ago, that we we’re planning the trip of our lifetime (you know, until the next epic adventure heads our way). And we’ve almost  finalized our itinerary. We will be heading out in the middle of December starting off our trip in Los Angeles and then heading to Las Vegas and Hawaii. Then we will jet over to Sydney and will eventually make our way to Singapore. Along the way, we have many exciting things planned, food-adventures, sight-seeing and of course the crazy-scared-for-your-life moments, that A is already dreading.

You see? Planning, anticipation, patience and imagination, our trip will have it all! We’re still about a month away, so in the meantime A and I will be getting ready for the Thanksgiving shenanigans (Philadelphia, we’re coming for you!) and anxiously await our trip around the world. So yes, we’re going beyond big this Christmas and then, when we’re thoroughly exhausted and our bank account cannot handle our lavish lifestyle anymore (just kidding! We’re staying mostly at airbnb’s ), then we’ll go home. So stay tuned!