The picture above was taken of me on 10/05/2015, the last day of my cancer treatment. I looked like I was dead. I still remember how I felt that day, the weeks leading up to that day, and the months following that day. I was weak, lifeless, and felt defeated. I would just sit in my bed not being able to move, eat, sleep, or talk. That picture still haunts me.
Even though I was disillusioned at times, the only thing I was
able to do during those moments was think. At times during our lives we all
tell ourselves that we are going to die. We talk about it casually and passively,
like that day is so far in front of us that we don’t really have to worry about
it. We see other people’s lives end, but we never really think that it is going
to happen to us. Now most of us don’t actually say that we are going to live
forever, but the way a lot of us actually live our lives says it for us.
I had all of these big plans and big dreams for my life. I had
dreams of being a nomad one day. I was going to be 42 years old when my
daughter turned 18. Until that time came it was my goal to stay mentally and
physically sharp, preparing myself for the adventure of a lifetime. It was my
dream to travel from country to country, work remotely, and enjoy being
immersed in other cultures while meeting new people and having new experiences.
It wasn’t until I was lying in that bed suffering from
cancer that I realized that I was really going to die. It really was going to
happen to me too. When that realization hit me I was overcome with feelings of
anger, sadness, and despair. I cried… and cried… and cried. I was going to
leave so much life on the table. I was not going to get the most out of the
human experience, and I was never going to achieve my dreams. During those
moments I promised myself that if I ever got out of that bed and if I would ever
recover, that I was no longer going to put off my dreams. I was going to live with
a greater sense of urgency and purpose in every aspect of my life.
Well if you have been following my blog, you know I have
gotten out of that bed. It has been a long and difficult process, but I am the
point where my cancer is currently in remission. To be perfectly honest though,
I don’t know how long I am going to be healthy. I am scared. Stuart Scott’s
cancer went in and out of remission before it eventually killed him. Jim Kelly’s
cancer has gone in and out of remission. I just heard yesterday that Craig
Sager is no longer in remission. What if my cancer came back… and what if I did
not recover from the next round of treatment? Those feelings are really real
for me.
With all of that being said, it is go time. NOW. I cannot
wait until I am 42 years old to start living how I want to live. I am healthy,
and it is time to make moves.
As I mentioned before, it was my intention to stop posting
on this blog once I got healthy. After thinking about it further, my intentions
have changed. I have gotten so many phone calls, text messages, emails, and
Facebook messages telling me how I have inspired others. I figured I would
continue to attempt to inspire others, but now I would attempt to do so in a
different way. So I decided to convert this blog from a cancer blog into a
travel blog. It is my dream to see the world. I figured that chronicling the
pursuit of my dream will help put things into perspective for others, and help
inspire them to pursue the dreams of their own.
When I decided to travel the world, I had to figure out how I
was going to do it. I have evolved into a minimalist, which has given me some flexibility.
Aside from some books that I keep in my mother’s garage, everything that I own
fits into one small closet. I wear the same pair of Stan Smith Adidas pretty
much every day. My daughter laughs at me because I don’t wear Jordan’s or own a
single Nike product (that’s a whole other story in itself… but long story short
DON’T BUY NIKE). She doesn’t understand that the money spent on a $250 pair of shoes
could be spent on an experience, which in the grand scheme of things is much
more valuable. She is being educated though. I own two cars… one that is 8
years old and another that is 15 years old. They are tools. I don’t need to
look good to get where I need to go. I just need to get there. Again, I would
rather use the money that would go toward a monthly car payment towards an
experience. Since I went back to work on December 28th, I have not taken a single
day off. I do have the ability to work from home, so on my off days I make sure
I work for at least two hours. If I am at home and I am not doing anything, I
work. I have the big picture in mind, and am totally focused on my goals.
These “sacrifices” I have made have positioned me to keep my
keep my overhead low. If those things make other people happy, that is fine. I am not knocking that way of living at all. It just isn't right for me, and doesn't make me happy. While I may not have the best clothes, the biggest house,
or the nicest car… my lifestyle enables me to pursue what I feel is most important
and most valuable in life, which are experiences.
Going forward, I want to share my experiences with others.
And when I mean share, I really mean share. If traveling is something you do
not want to do, I still think it would be valuable to hear about my experiences.
But if traveling is something you want to do, this my invitation for you to
come with me. While I want to and do have plans to travel with my close friends
and family, it logistically isn’t possible to travel with them at all times. I
am willing to travel with others outside of that small circle. That means you. Yes
YOU. I don’t care if you are a man or a woman, are a baby mother or baby
father, are old or young (you have to be at least 21), are married or divorced,
are gay/straight/transgender, or anything else. If you want to see the world,
we already have something in common. I would seriously consider traveling with
anyone. I am serious. So if you have an interest, I please ask you to reach out
with me. Don’t be hesitant. I am willing to go pretty much anywhere in the
world. If you don’t have much money or are
skeptical for any other reason, I want you to reach out to me anyway so we
can figure out if there is a way to make it happen.
While it would be fun to travel with others, I have no
problem traveling alone. As some of you already know, I have already taken my
first trip. I went on this trip by myself. Here is that story…
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I just returned from Rome, Italy. I picked Rome first because I love history and culture. My whole life has been an existential crisis. I have always questioned my purpose and my reason for living. I have always questioned the origins of man, the origins of religion, and how things came to be. I wanted to pick a place that helped shape the culture and very fabric of the entire world. Experiencing Rome and visiting all of its historical sites would help me get an understanding of... life.
I knew I was going to enjoy Rome, but this experience seriously exceeded my expectations. I am going try to tell this story with pictures. Now when you view these pictures, please understand that the pictures do not do any of these sites justice. You have to see them with your own eyes to get the full feeling.
Before my flight, I exchanged US currency for some Euros. I had never seen Euros before. The exchange rate wasn't horrible, but it is better if you do it in the country that you are going to rather than in your native country. I knew this going in, I just wanted to make sure I had money as soon as I stepped off of the plane.
Pictured above is Beth. She is a nun at the Vatican. I sat next to her on my flight. I was a little nervous when I saw her sit next to me, because being a minority man you never know how you are going to be perceived. She was very nice to me though. She educated me on the subway system, things I needed to see, and the overall culture of the city. She was very helpful, and I am glad I was able to sit next to her.
After landing at the airport, I had to take the train to the main Metro station in Rome. I sat next to this random girl who was knocked out.
Above are pictures of the subway station. On my way to my hotel, I got stopped by the police on 3 separate occasions. They questioned what I was doing there and asked to see my passport. I guess they could tell I was a foreigner, or I looked suspicious because I had on an army jacket and was carrying around a big bag. It wasn't a big deal to me. I understood what it was, especially after what just happened in Brussels.
The second I stepped out of the subway station into Rome, I literally said WOW. Going into this I knew Rome had a lot of treasures. What I quickly learned was that the whole city of Rome is a treasure. From the streets to the buildings to the monuments, everything was extremely beautiful and built to last. When I go to New York City I feel the vibrant energy of the city. With Rome I felt a different kind of energy. I felt stoic. I felt like I opened up a time capsule. I walked the ENTIRE city, and there were hardly any advertising or billboards. There are little to no commercial establishments, with the exception of a very small McDonald's that I saw. It seemed like it was important for Romans to keep their culture, history, and feel of the city intact.
Every and I mean EVERY street and alley I walked down was BEAUTIFUL. There are no dead ends in Rome. I would be walking down a street and alley and think I would have to turn around, but at the end of an alley would be a small passageway that led to a huge square. There was no grid. Every street and every square was unique. It felt good just walking. I tried to capture these moments in photos which I called "cityscapes." Again, these pictures do not capture the beauty of the city. You have to see it for yourself. See below...
Look at the street itself... beautiful
There is the option to eat outside at pretty much every restaurant, no matter how big or small
Again, this is not a famous place. Even the "regular" stuff is beautiful.
These are EVERYWHERE. I want one.
Everyone walks in the street. I have no clue about the driving laws or restrictions. I would be walking for like 10 minutes and not see a car, and think this is a place where people just walk. Then all of a sudden a car would come down the street.
Another "normal" not famous square. People would ask me to take pictures of them, so when they were finished I would ask them to take a picture of me.
This is just a small sample of the beauty of the city. It got to the point where I would walk around a corner and say to myself... "Another beautiful view?" or "Another beautiful monument?" It was just unbelievable and seemingly never ending. I hope you kind of got the idea from this small sample size.
Another thing that caught my eye were the churches. Every random church was extremely detailed and extremely beautiful. It just goes to show the emphasis and importance of religion. The doors were always open and you would just see random people praying in them. I went into a few. See below...
Again... those are RANDOM non-famous churches. Crazy.
Now as everyone knows, Rome has it's share of extremely famous monuments. I will take you through some of them below...
The Pantheon
fountain outside of the the Pantheon
inside...
That is an actual hole in the roof. When it rains, the rain comes through the building. I am not sure of the historical significance of that. Of course my big head could cover the hole. See below..
on the side of the Pantheon (the guards always have their finger on the trigger ready for war)
The Pantheon was beautiful. You walk down this little alley and when you come out, all of a sudden there it is. When I saw it I literally said, "Oh shit!" I feel like the building had a personality and presence. It is almost 2000 years old. To put that in perspective, there is barely anything is the United States that is 200 years old. Throughout history it has been used as a church and many other things. Even today it is the biggest concrete dome in the world.
Trevi Fountain
It was so big and there were so many people there that I couldn't get a picture of the whole thing. In a word, the thing is miraculous.
Piazza Navona
the fountain at night below...
This is Rome's most famous square. It has been featured in a lot of famous love movies. Again these pictures could not capture the essence of it, so I tried to capture it with a video. See below...
Capitoline Hill
This is Rome's capital building. It is beautiful. The statues on the building are crazy. Again, no photo can do it justice.
Leonardo da Vinci Museum
This is a car
This is an odometer
Scuba suit
Da Vinci Square (if you look in the back, there is an advertisement for the Samsung Galaxy 7. The only advertisement I saw)
Da Vinci was a great mind, and I was happy to have the opportunity to go to his museum.
Colosseum
Here is a video below...
The Colosseum was so dope. It had its own vibe. It had its own feeling. When I was in the building I felt all of the history. To understand all that went on there over the years and to know that I was in that place was pretty surreal feeling.
Now all of those places were great, but there is NO PLACE like the one I am about to talk about...
The Vatican
This is the real reason I came to Rome. While the Colosseum and everything else was cool, this place was by far and away the main attraction for me. This place is unbelievable. I didn't even want to take pictures while I was here. There are certain places where you weren't even allowed to take pictures (more on that later). I just wanted to be in it and absorb everything. If you don't know about the Vatican, it is the home of the Pope, Roman Catholic Church, and it houses the most important art collection in the world.
Everyone I spoke to told me to make sure I bought a ticket for the Roman Colosseum and the Vatican prior to going, because the lines were ridiculous. Well I am hard headed and I didn't. The line for the Colosseum took 20 minutes. Not bad. I thought the Vatican would be the same. Boy was I wrong! You cannot buy a ticket to the Vatican until 9am. I got there at 8am, and figured I would be one of the first in line. I ended up not getting in until 11:30. Despite the wait, it was still worth it. I would have waited 5 hours. people sleep outside of stores overnight for Yeezys' and I would have done the same to get into this place.
The Vatican is a compound. There is a HUGE wall built around it. Here are some pictures of the outside and line...
This line went waaaaay around the block. When I left the museum, I took a video of that took me from the front of the line to the back of the line. It took me five minutes and eleven seconds to get from the front to the back of the line. Crazy.
A guy playing the violin walking through the line.
me and some Korean guy in the line.
The line leading toward one entrance coming from both sides. Unbelievable.
I was HAPPY when I got in!!
Ok now some more pictures...
The ceilings were unbelievable. You could have taken all of the art out of the buildings, and the buildings themselves were still a treasure.
I forgot who this was, but they had swag( I hate that word, but that is the only way it could be described)
Ceilings were CRAZY
I bet this guy never knew he would be in a selfie
This was one of my favorite statues. Hercules
That is a tomb and there is a body in there.
Below are rugs. I couldn't position myself in a spot where I was able to take a picture of the entire rug. They were HUGE. It was interesting to see the scenes depicted on them. A sign of the times...
This was crazy...
I'm not sure who this baby is, but you could just tell he was the man.
Now I have literally a thousand pictures of the Vatican, and I won't show you them all. There are countless treasures. The most important place in the Vatican though is unfortunately the only place that you cannot take pictures in. That is the Sistine Chapel. It is where the famous picture of "creation" is. For those who do not know what that is... here is a picture from the internet...
The Sistine Chapel might be the single most fascinating place that I have ever been in my life. It is like a maze to get in there. You have to walk up stairs, down stairs, through galleries, and through single person hallways. The build up is crazy. It reminds me of a level in Super Mario Brothers 2. Prior to going in, they tell you that you cannot talk and you cannot take pictures.
Once I got in, I was amazed. Even though I am an atheist, I knew I was in the presence of greatness. Not in the presence of GOD, but in the presence of greatness. There were people crying, people praying, and people just staring in awe. This one guy had his selfie stick out, and a guard grabbed him and did like this WWF wrestling take down on him. I started dying laughing.
I sat in there for about a half an hour. I didn't want to leave. And oh yea...
... I did sneak a picture :-P
The Vatican did not disappoint. I would have went to Rome just for that. A few more random pictures...
St. Peters Square outside of the Vatican
Tiber River
St. Angelo's Castle
Seeing and experiencing all of those things made my trip worthwhile.That wasn't the best part of my trip though. The best part of my trip were the conversations I had with the people. I met so many people from around the world. It was great listening to everyone's story. I was inspired. It made me want MORE. Here are a few...
My man was from the Senegal. He was a street vendor selling jewelry. Most people looked at him like he was invisible. I wanted to know his story. We spoke for about a half an hour. He told me about the lack of opportunity in his homeland, which is why he migrated to Rome. He told me it was hard to get a job,which is why he resorted to selling jewelry. I gave him 10 euro and told him to keep his jewelry because I respected his work ethic. He thanked me and stated that I was the first tourist that ever actually talked to him. He insisted I took a bracelet, which I did.
These girls were dope! They from left to right are from France, Indonesia, and New Jersey of all places. They are all students at John Cabot University in Rome. We sat and talked for about an hour about world travel, the media, propaganda, and a bunch of other topics. Dope people, dope conversations.
This girl was from China. She was struggling get the right picture with her selfie stick. I offered to take her picture, and she was so happy. All she kept saying was "You are so nice!" She was very nice too.
This woman was from India. She asked me to take a picture of her and her husband. She then asked to take a picture with just me? It was weird but her husband was cool with it, so I said ok!
I shared an elevator with these two girls. I could tell they were talking about me because they were laughing and giggling. They are from a country I never even heard of, somewhere east of Russia. They asked to take a picture with me, so I accepted. They must have thought I was Chris Brown or something. I took one with my camera as well.
This girl was from Romania. She was so nice. She worked at a store that was like a Burlington Coat Factory. She was helping me shop. The clothes were crazy. Gucci, Versace, and everything else in between. I stayed in my lane and left everything on the shelf.
My guy George from the hotel. He was cool, and very helpful.
This was tied for my favorite conversation of the trip. The girl in the middle is a student at Brown and the girl on the right is from the University of Rhode Island. We talked about politics, philosophy, racism, sexuality, and so much more for 2 hours. I really love people. These people made me happy.
These girls were in the room next to me at my hotel. They were from Norway. They were all about the turn-up. Whether it was noon, 2am, or 6pm, they were drunk. They were kissing each other after this picture. I declined their offer to "hang out." I am not about that life lol.
Here is me with two random guys in front of the capitol building. The guy in the middle was from L.A., also a student at John Cabot university. The guy on the right is... Terrence of course! I am glad I had the opportunity to see Terrence while I was in Italy. I am PROUD of Terrence, and happy that he is doing a fantastic job of representing Allentown in the Italian League.
Tee had me DYING laughing the whole time. We went to a local bar, and within 10 minutes he had the whole and I mean the WHOLE bar gravitated towards him. We met these guys from L.A. who looked up Terrence on YouTube, and were hi-fiving him after watching his videos. I was sitting in the bar having a debate with a woman from Oregon who is now teaching abroad in Spain about the greatness of Kobe Bryant. See the pictures below...
These guys were from L.A. They were hilarious!
Everyone
Love in the club
We were having so much fun that we all decided to go dancing together!
It was too dark and we were having too much fun to take pictures in the club. They were playing what I would describe as "Reggaeton from Spain." I didn't care. Everyone was having so much fun.
This was tied for my favorite conversation on the trip. This woman is a student from the University of Toronto. She looks just like my sister Cerise! She was attending a debate competition with her school in which she competed against all of the best schools around the world, including Harvard, Yale, etc. Her team won, and she was awarded best speaker! She has been to 44 countries, started two non profit organizations, and done so much more. She plans to work on Wall Street and become a CEO one day. We talked about pretty much everything. INSPIRING.
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So that pretty much was my trip to Rome. I had a fantastic time. Rome really exceeded my expectations. The only thing I really didn't talk about and didn't enjoy all that much was the food. It may be because of my taste buds or I just may be a picky eater... but I just wasn't fond of it. Oh well.
Now like I was saying... this is only the beginning. I already have trips booked to AMAZING places around the world that before I would only have DREAMED of going to. If you are one of the few people who know where I am going in the future, please keep it to yourself for now. I have other trips in mind for my friends and family, but I also have some time where I could take some trips with others. So if you are serious about going somewhere or just curious and want to talk about it, please get in touch with me. My inbox is open, and I am SO SERIOUS. I am willing to go pretty much anywhere in the world. Let's make it happen.
See you soon. Love, Kyle
