And then, there is the most dangerous risk of all - the risk of spending your life not doing what you want on the bet you can buy yourself the freedom to do it later - Randy Komisar
In the Hart family (not the WWF Hart family), I am the oldest of four followed by two sisters close in age and a brother born a month before my thirteenth birthday. While my sisters are amazing, there was a time growing up where I wanted nothing more than a brother to do all of the things I was interested in - baseball, basketball, football, really anything sports related. My sisters were only able to play that role up to a certain point. Eventually, my brother came along but I was already consumed with being a teenager. We grew up a generation apart. For some perspective, my first year of college was the year my brother started kindergarten. As we’ve become older, the generation gap continues to narrow.
With his college graduation approaching, I decided there would be no better experience than for me to introduce him to something I love with the hope he may develop a similar curiosity to explore the world. We first began talking about the trip last year on a family vacation in Kauai. A few years ago, I spent the better part of two weeks in Thailand. From Chiang Mai to Bangkok to the islands in the south. I loved everything about it and know he was intrigued by stories I brought home. As we began to discuss where we would go, the focus began to narrow in on Southeast Asia - the temples of Siem Reap and Vietnam
As we closed in our departure date, I came to a realization that my brother and I had not spent more than a day or two together without others from the family around. And then, I realized I had not spent two weeks with just my sisters which was an interesting thought for me given our relationship is a bit different with there being ten years of just the three of us.
I have been looking forward to the trip for a while. For me, travelling could not be better timed - personally. I would imagine he feels the same as I know I would have fourteen years ago when I graduated from college. Although fourteen years ago, my experience would have been vastly different as I am now well past the time in my life where I would consider sleeping in a hostel. I’m just thankful life has worked itself out to put us in this position to have this experience.
Leaving as brothers and am sure we will be returning as friends - we’re off for an overnight layover in Singapore then off to Bangkok for a couple of days, followed by Siem Reap, Halong Bay, Sapa, Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City before returning back to the greatest city in the world, San Francisco.