A Path Unpaved: #LetsLanka

Hey World,

As an homage to our wedding week (!), I wanted to throw it back to our first international trip together: Sri Lanka (back in March 2015).

I can't say enough great things about our ten days in Sri Lanka -- it is truly a hospitable place full of SO much to do, SO many beautiful scenes, and the spiciest samosas that will ever touch your lips!

Colombo --> Candy --> Dambulla --> Nuwara Eliya --> Horton Plains --> Kitulugala --> Adam's Peak --> Mirissa --> Galle --> Hikkaduwa --> Colombo

Laced through the pictures below is a blog I wrote while we were flying back, and never ended up sharing. Life is what happens outside your window is a phrase I used back in 2014, and put it much more nicely into words while in Sri Lanka.

Looking down Colombo's coastline

Life is what happens outside your window.

Infinity pool the first night!

Early morning at the train station

It's what everyone else in the world is doing as you observe the planet; shaving their faces and brushing their teeth, stirring up porridge for breakfast, opening up their shops, offering flowers to Buddha, washing their babies, mending shoes and chatting with neighbors.

Traveling by train was amazing.

Within the first 48 hours in Sri Lanka, I witnessed all of the above and more from my front row seat to the world: a bus window, a train observation deck, and a tuk-tuk.

I realized that I would learn more about Sri Lanka during these moments than I would from trekking through temples or tea plantations or hikes. These should be the snapshots worth memorizing. These simple flashes of life were simply that, a life worth living.

One of the temples overlooking Kandy

Sigiriya was one of the coolest places in the world.

I wake up every day and lament going to work, shaving my legs, having to cook dinner; all of the same things I so quickly came to appreciate when it wasn't me doing it.

Sigiriya is a castle ruins....on the top of that rock!

Later in the day, the BF asked me to describe my perfect day. To my own surprise, every aspect of it was mundane, familiar. I want leftovers for breakfast and a nap in my own bed, a hike in the woods I know, and a bonfire with friends. The most perfect day in the world could probably happen two days a week if I wanted it to.

Moving into the tea zone

What's the point in saying all of this?

Horton Plains was our trip's best unplanned surprise.

Well, I realized that finding joy in the small things, in the familiar, in the mundane, is why I travel.

A typical meal for two

Yes- it's to see new trees and pretty colors and hear new voices saying new words and eat dishes I couldn't even dream about googling the recipe to- but it's also to re-assess my own life.