When the Road Gets Dark

There's a version of travel we all like to romanticize: the one with dreamy sunsets, cheap wine, and those cinematic moments where the universe feels like it's finally on your side. But nobody warns you about the other version. The one where you're broke in a foreign country, running on fumes, pride, and the kindness of strangers you never expected to need.

I always knew life was hard, but nothing hit quite like realizing adventure doesn't magically erase struggle. It just relocates it. Sometimes to the other side of the world.

The truth? I came face-to-face with the kind of fear that rearranges your insides. No money, no way home. No certainty of what tomorrow looked like. The kind of situation where you stop caring about the sights and start caring about survival. It's humbling in a way Instagram could never capture.

And yet, somehow, people showed up.

A meal when I hadn't eaten. A few coins slipped into my hand by someone who didn't even know my name. A warm gesture when my hope was ice cold. I learned that kindness isn't rare; it just waits for the moments when pride finally lets us receive it.

But hardest lesson of all wasn't about danger or loss. It was this: you can chase your dream with everything you've got and still get knocked flat. That doesn't make the dream any less worth having. It just means the journey isn't a straight line.

Travel isn't always pretty. But it is honest. Brutally and beautifully honest.

Full of ups, and downs, and twists and turns, life is anything but messy and chaotic. Nobody grows from comfort. We grow from the moments that challenge us, corner us and force us to decide who we want to be when things aren't easy. Life has a way of throwing curveballs just to see if we are paying attention. But the truth is, every hard moment we survive becomes proof that we can survive the next one. We don't get stronger by avoiding the storm. We get stronger by walking through it and coming out the other side with your head still up and spirit still kicking.

I have learned through everything that you just have to keep going, no matter what. Never lose focus. It's easy to believe the detours mean failure, but often they're the part that teaches you how badly you want the destination. Keep your eyes on the long game. Always try to find a way to push through, and remember that a setback isn't a verdict. It's a pause.

And maybe that's the point. Maybe the road's roughest chapters are the ones that end up shaping us the most. Not because they were easy, but because survived them at all.

My "once in a lifetime" opportunity may be coming to a quick close, but that doesn't mean my story is over. This is just a short chapter in my book. This chapter will end. Another will begin. And when it does, I'll carry this experience with me; not as a weight, but as armor. As a reminder that I've already faced hell with empty pockets and a full heart... and I didn't break.

Until the next Spark,

Korey