Hit 50 countries yesterday and it felt weirdly empty

I was in some random cafe in Sofia checking my passport stamps and realized I just crossed my 50th country. Started doing the math and figured out I've been on the road for almost 7 years as a digital nomad. But here's the thing - I couldn't remember the name of the barista I talked to for an hour that morning. It hit me that I'm collecting numbers instead of connections. Has anyone else felt like the milestone count starts losing its meaning after a certain point?

2 comments

2 Comments

kimmurphy4d agoTop Commenter

That thing about not remembering the barista's name really got to me. I'm at 32 countries myself and I've started keeping a little notebook of people's names and where I met them, because I noticed I was forgetting faces way too fast. Do you ever look back at photos from your travels and realize you have no idea who the other people in them are?

janah834d ago

You ever scroll through your camera roll and see a blurry selfie with some guy at a bar in Budapest and think, "Buddy, I hope you're doing well, because I've got nothing"? Yeah, that's me with about half my travel photos. I joke that I keep a digital graveyard of names I'll never remember, like a tiny memorial for people I had a great conversation with for 15 minutes and then never saw again. Honestly, at this point my passport is just a very expensive sticker collection with a side of mild existential dread.