For Natalie

Tomorrow night I will embark on a journey to the beautiful country of Cyprus. Literally, it's a journey. I leave the Richmond airport at 7:30 pm and fly to Atlanta. I then leave Atlanta at 10:30 pm and arrive in Amsterdam, Netherlands at 12:50 pm at which point I will have lost all sense of real time. The last leg is a flight from Amsterdam to Cyprus from 2:30 to 7:30 pm.

My best friend Natalie and I used to joke that air travel puts you in a time warp, where it is suddenly normal to eat a hamburger from an airport restaurant chain at 8:30 am. We used to text each other from airports and say "time warp."

I travel to Cyprus with a heavy heart, as I lost my other half, Natalie, a month ago. The true catalyst for this this trip is to do consulting work for my MBA class, but I am hoping it will also offer a chance to do some soul searching. It will be difficult to leave Richmond right now, but Natalie was the most excited for me to go on this trip. "Oh," she said, putting her hand to her chest while shaking her head, causing her blonde hair to sway back and forth, "it will be so great." And so I hope it will be, because I know she wanted it to be.

The first time I blogged was when I traveled to London in 2012. It's a little scary the first time you write in a more public space, but I enjoyed the experience. My friends and family back home appreciated the opportunity to follow along, and I liked chronicling my experiences so I could reference them later. This travel blog is for my friends and family, for myself, but mostly for Natalie, my biggest supporter and advocate. I will be carrying her along with me in my heart and by my side, which is where she has always been and will forever be. This blog is everything I would have told her from my journey.