One of the most enticing things about international travel, is the people you meet along your journey, and the lifelong bonds you form with them.
When I was 18, I lived in Kenya for four months. In the past six days, I have had the privilege of reuniting with two of the people who made that trip what it was for me. My roommates, Ben and Jack.
I decided when I was booking my flights for this trip, that there was no better way to start out a new journey, than by visiting the people I met on my last travel journey. I booked Chicago for 5 days, and London for 1, with the plan to return there after Spain.
From the minute I got into Ben's car in Chicago, it was like no time had passed at all. I felt completely and utterly at ease with him, just as I had when we were living together in Kenya three years ago. It was easy to see that both of us had changed considerably in our time apart. We had matured and grown. We are at very different places in our lives today, but we still have the same core values and beliefs that brought us together in the first place.
The same was true with Jack. We always had such a great time together. Me making fun of his accent, and him mine. We share so many similar interests and absolutely never run out of things to talk about.
It's funny to think that if I had never gone to Kenya, neither Ben, or Jack would be a part of my life. And not just them, but everyone I met on that trip. One of my very best friends, Katie, is living in Calgary, has a home, a husband, and a baby on the way. But every time I visit her, I see that dirty ass blonde girl I shared a twin sized bed with in a shack made of sheet metal.
Travel creates the strongest of bonds. You go through things with them that you can never truly explain to another living soul. You go through times when you want to kill each other, but when it's time to say good bye, it truly feels like you are saying good bye to a family member. Someone who, in a few short months, has managed to become so important that they actually become a part of you, and you a part of them.
 I am so incredibly thankful for the opportunity ahead of me to meet so many more people who will steal a piece of my heart. But I know I will never ever lose the friends I have already made. I love you, losers. But don't you dare tell anyone I said that.