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Life is short and the world is wide. 生命很短暂，然而世界很大。

In winter 2018, I was working hard on a promotion for my travel business and trying to achieve my ambition of winning a financial prize. Due to the time difference between Spain and China, I started working as soon as I got up and often worked through the day. I frequently forgot about lunch and was often exhausted in the evenings. By Christmas Eve, I had hit my goal for that promotion but I felt sad. I was sick and lying in bed. I decided to book a trip to Prague in February, where my friend Sonia had invited me earlier. After booking the trip, I started to look forward to it and the next day I felt so much better. So I think the antidote to my sickness and boredom was definitely a vacation.

在2018年的冬天，因为想要得到我旅游生意团队竞赛的奖金，我很努力在推广并且想要达到我的野心目的。因为西班牙和中国的时差，我总是一起床就开始工作一直到晚上。我经常会忘记吃午餐，而且在晚上的时候感觉到精疲力竭。在圣诞节的前夕，我达成了推广目标，然而我却觉得很难过。我生病了，在床上躺着。所以我决定二月要去我的朋友Sonia先前邀请我去的布拉格之旅。在预定了那场旅行之后，我开始期待着，并且隔天我的身体立刻感觉就好多了。所以我认为我生病和无聊的解药就是一场旅行。

Then I got another invitation to Iceland in January 2019. While there, I met Palli who was a local marine engineer. We liked each other and wanted to get to know each other better.  Although we were both unable to make a commitment due to the long distance, we met in different countries for vacations that year. Palli would work really hard at sea for two to three weeks and then had one week free which was great for him to fly to see me. In between those meetings, I felt so restless and excited about our next meeting that I decided to fill gaps in my schedule with more trips and adventures. I was in Europe, Asia and even flew to South America that year. 

然后我在2019年的一月又被邀请去冰岛。在那里我认识了当地的海洋工程师Palli。我们喜欢彼此，也想要多认识对方。虽然我们因为远距离无法作出感情上的承诺，但是那一年我们一起在不同的国家度假。Palli会在海上辛勤工作两到三个礼拜，然后当他有一星期假期的时候，他就会飞来看我。在等待下次见面的心情让我好兴奋，我总是感觉坐不住，所以我就决定要在不见面的时候多安排旅行和冒险活动。那年，我人不仅在欧洲、亚洲，我甚至去了南美洲一趟。

Even when I was back in Barcelona, I had decided to open up my apartment for couchsurfers just to immerse myself in travel vibes and keep my life busy. That decision opened up so many opportunities to deepen some of the most important friendships in my life. Elia, who was also from Taiwan, was the first couchsurfer I hosted in my apartment and  became my assistant for my business. Another guest was Hallvard, a young Norwegian musician, who stayed alone the first night before returning back to visit and stay with me with his two tall roommates from Oslo. We ended up meeting again in his home in Oslo, when they became my hosts. Pablo, a sweet Argentinean traveler, came to stay with me for two nights in Barcelona and then we met up again in Bratislava while he was having a working holiday during my Eurail journey. 

甚至再回到巴塞罗那的时候，我还决定开放我的公寓给世界各地的沙发客们，让我可以沉浸在旅行的感觉中也让我的生活一直忙碌。那个决定却打开了好多机会让我可以更加深许多在我生命中重要的友谊。Elia，来自台湾，是我第一个在我公寓里接待的沙发客，她后来成为我生意上的助理。另外一个客人是来自挪威年轻的音乐家，Hallvard原先来我家住了一个晚上，后来又带着他在奥斯陆，两个高大的室友来我家再住一晚。后来我们又在他们奥斯陆的家相遇了，那次变成他们接待我。还有一个非常贴心的阿根廷游客，在我巴塞罗那的家住了两晚，后来我因为火车旅行到了斯洛伐克的首都布拉提斯拉瓦，他人刚好在那里的青年旅社进行打工换宿，我们又见面了！

I also had a couple of really successful podcasting meetups and workshops in my apartment, however the stress of growing a physical business in Barcelona and an existing online business which allowed me to see the world more freely was becoming overwhelming. It reached a point where I had to renew my entrepreneur residency which was a complicated and time-consuming process. To make matters worse, there were political riots in Barcelona at the time and the political situation had become very heated. While all this was going on, I was eager to see Palli however we were not ready for a full blown relationship. There was an important decision to be made; should I stay in Europe or should I leave? I had been offered a tempting publishing contract in China which I was very excited about and also had discovered my desire to make up with my father back in Taiwan. Ever since splitting up with my ex-husband a few years ago, we hadn't talked much. As time went by, I started to better understand his perspective and wish to protect his daughter. He was going to turn 80 years old the next year and I thought that I would feel regret if I missed celebrating it together. 

在我的公寓里，我举办了几场成功播客见面会还有工作坊，然而建立一个在巴塞罗那的实体事业还同时拥有已经让我有更多自由看世界的线上世界的压力中让我招架不住。然后到了我必须要续签我的创业居留证，整个过程复杂又耗时。更糟糕的是，在巴塞罗那那时的政治暴动还有情况变得激切。在这一切都在发生的同时，我很想见Palli，然而我们两人都没准备好要开展一段认真的感情。所以我必须要做一个重要的决定，我是要留在欧洲还是离开呢？中国那边给我一个可以出版我书籍的诱人机会，还有我也发现我想要和我在台湾的父亲和好，自从我和我前夫在几年前分手后，就没什么讲话。随着时间的过去，我开始可以了解他想要保护女儿的心情。在隔年他就要80岁了，所以我想如果没有一起庆祝的话，我一定会感觉非常后悔。

So, I made up my mind to exit Europe, and then bought a two-month Eurail pass to enjoy it before I went back to Taiwan. I made a plan to see all the cities I had always been wanting to visit before sharing the routes and plans with my students online to make some extra money to cover my expenses. Thank God moving out of my two-bedroom apartment in Barcelona was pretty smooth too. I gave away most of my belongings and sold my furniture online. I had my last podcasters’ meetup in my almost-empty apartment, and afterwards my podcaster friends took all my trash down to the garbage. A couple of friends came to fix and repaint the walls of my recording studio, where I had put several acoustic foams which damaged the walls. After this, the apartment was as new as when I first moved in.

所以，我就下定决心要离开欧洲，然后在回去台湾前，我买了环欧火车票准备用两个月好好的去享受欧洲风情。我做了一个计划去看所有我曾想要去的城市，还有和我的学生们分享路线和计划去弥补我的支出。感谢老天，搬出我在巴塞隆纳两房的公寓也非常的顺利，我把我大部分的东西送出去，还有在网上卖掉我的家具。我在我几乎要空的公寓里举办了最后一次的播主聚会，然后结束之后让我的朋友们帮我把垃圾拿下楼丢掉。几个朋友也来帮我修理，还有重新的粉刷过我录音间里的被我用隔音棉毁掉的墙壁。之后，我的公寓就像我当初刚搬进去的一样新！

One night while I was in my almost-empty apartment. I thought that I had made a mistake. I got cold feet before my trip due to the fact I had always hated traveling in winter. Winter in Europe was always gloomy in my opinion and I was also afraid that I might get sick or be unable to continue my trips. Although I had already made an announcement to my friends, students and my podcast listeners that I was going, I was scared and wanted to quit.

有天晚上在我几乎要空的公寓里，我以为我犯下了一个错误。我开始对接下来的旅行感到退缩，因为我一直讨厌在冬天旅行，以我所见，欧洲的冬天总是很阴郁，然后我害怕我会生病然后无法继续我的旅行，

“If not now, then never!” The encouraging voice came to me when I was almost swallowed by my fear and ready to call it quits.

“如果现在不去，就永远不会去了！“当我快要被我的恐惧吞噬和准备要放弃的时候，有个鼓励的声音就忽然冒出来了！

Then I handed my keys to the real estate agent and made my first trip, and the fear dissipated as soon as I started my journey. 

然后我把钥匙交给房屋中介，开始了我的第一个旅程，当我开始在路上的时候，我的恐惧就立刻瓦解了。

Stay tuned...there’s much more to come! 

In the next episode I’ll be sharing my emotional journey in Spain.

敬请期待，还有好多故事呢！

下一集我会和你分享我在西班牙火车旅行中碰到的遗憾、感动和浪漫

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我的网站：flywithlily.com 注册下载我给你的小礼物吧！或直接和我预约一个免费咨询