I don’t think any 11 hour flight is a pleasant experience. But there’s something magical about seeing your destination from the sky. You get these feelings of: “I made it,” and, “I’m about to explore all of that!”

On this plane ride I watched Marcel the Shell, a stop motion “documentary” about a shell living in an Air BnB, trying to find his family. In it Marcel quotes “Plane Jetski” saying: you miss 100% of the shots you don’t take. He then embodies this in the creative ways he survives and the big and scary opportunities he takes along the way. This was simultaneously an adorable and profound movie.

Before my flight I was suddenly very nervous about spending two weeks in Japan on my own. I hope I can be like Marcel and overcome all of the difficult thoughts that try to hold me back. My philosophy is to just do it all without thinking. It’s when I start thinking that my thoughts turn in to walls.

Here’s to 23 days of new adventures!