James - Not Afraid of the Fall

Praise for Not Afraid of the Fall

Not Afraid of the Fall proves that the combination of crazy-in-love and bitten-by-wanderlust can lead to amazing placesif youre willing to take the leap and let it. Kyle and Ash explore Europe and Thailand with an insatiable thirst for authentic experiences, air conditioning, and beer. Most of the time, they manage all three.

Amy McCullough, author of The Box Wine Sailors

Reading this memoir is like being tucked into a new best friends pocket and going on the adventure you wish youd been brave enough to take. Kyle James navigates different countries, cultures, and the full range of emotion that comes with traveling with someone you love, with humor, honesty, and an infectious sense of wonder.

Katie McKenna, author of How to Get Run Over by a Truck

An alluring read for fans of travel writing, Not Afraid of the Fall is both exhilarating and inspiring. After reading this book youll want to go on your own epic adventure.

Ed Stafford, Discovery Channel presenter and Guinness World Recordholding first man to walk the Amazon

Copyright 2017 Kyle James

All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express written permission of the publisher.

Published by Inkshares, Inc., Oakland, California

www.inkshares.com

Edited by J.C. Gabel | Kaitlin Severini

Cover design by Jack Smyth | Interior Design by Kevin G. Summers

ISBN: 9781942645283

e-ISBN: 9781942645290

Library of Congress Control Number: 2016941217

First edition

Printed in the United States of America

My sweet Ash,

This book is dedicated to you. Without your push, we never would have fallen.

I was afraid to leave the comfort of our lives in Denver, but waking up to your smiling face every morning, eager to explore, assured me that everything was going to be okay. I was then afraid of not finishing this book or not being able to find a publisher, but you urged me to keep writing. Ash, you are the wind to my sails and the ink to my pen.

No matter where I go or what I do, the only thing I am sure of is that I want you by my side. Every cliff I jump off, every moped I crash, every morning after a night of food poisoning, every Mediterranean sunset, I want you by my side.

I never want to stop exploring with you, Ash.

Will you marry me?

Contents

PREFACE

Lets start from the beginning, shall we? In 1989, I was born a middle child into a middle-class family in Middle America. Yes, I understand it is impossible to be born a middle child. I must have sensed there was a Valentines Day with my little brothers name on it. I have been an independent middle child since I began crawling. At eight months old, I became bored with crawling and decided to walk. This allowed me to see more of my environment and get a better view of the world. At eleven months old, I discovered that taking my strides faster would cut down on my travel time and decided to run. I took plenty of falls, and in hindsight, I probably should have learned how to hit the brakes first. After third grade, I had learned enough in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and decided to move to Chapel Hill, North Carolina. (That is what I told my third-grade teacher, at least.)

Chapel Hill is my home. Even writing the words Chapel Hill makes me feel good. When I graduated from high school, I decided to take my academic talents (or lack thereof) to Boone, North Carolina, to attend Appalachian State University. This allowed me to see the world at an even higher birds-eye view, from 3,333 feet. The view of the mountains was great, but the view of a Southern girl from Lincolnton, North Carolina, was even better. I decided to make this girl named Ashley (Ash) mine. It took longer than I thought, and after many failed pickup lines (such as asking for ChapStick but then proclaiming I didnt use the stick), I managed to convince her to go on a hike with me. We fell in love in the Appalachian Mountains that day, traveling across trails and rivers and exploring an area of the world neither of us had ever seen. The exploration of new things is quite an aphrodisiac. We graduated from App State, and we decided to move to Denver, Colorado, to begin our careers. It was our dream to travel the world together, but we had to work to make money, so we told ourselves we would work for a year and then leave.

Ash was a kindergarten teacher and I worked in fundraising for a nonprofit called Junior Achievement. We lived our lives similarly to many Millennials. Getting through the five days of the week only by looking forward to the weekend. One year quickly became two, and the window to travel was disappearing. I had taken my place in the rat race to ascend the long, steep corporate ladder. As a result of our working lifestyles, our relationship suffered. Ash would wake up earlier than I did to commute to school, and we would not see each other in the morning. After work we would go to the gym. When we got home, one of us would start cooking while the other showered, and then we would switch places. We ate our meals on the couch and watched Netflix, dreading the next workday. On the weekends we would go out with friends and try to pack as much into those two days as we could. It wasnt that we werent still in love; it was that we werent exploring new things anymore. We spent time hiking, snowboarding, and visiting new places in Colorado, but after two years of the same thing, our lives became monotonous.

Desperate for a change, I landed what I thought was my dream job in an athletic program selling corporate sponsorships. I was leaving an amazing job at Junior Achievement with great people. Ash was absolutely devastated. She didnt tell me, but I could see it in her eyes. She knew that this was it, our plants were rooted, and we would be in Denver for a long time. I told her that we needed to do this for our future and that we would take a two-week vacation somewhere amazing. She supported me because she knew I badly wanted this job, but our dreams of traveling the world would be put on hold once again.

I began my new job and absolutely hated it. I spent my entire first day making cold calls. I came home and shared my disappointment with Ash. I have never felt quite as lost as I did that day in January 2015. I felt like my life had spiraled out of my control. So we made the toughest decision we had ever made: we decided to follow our dreams and travel the world. We decided to risk our future for a happier now.

6/7/15
Denver, USA New York City, USA

Ashley (Ash) woke up an hour earlier than I did. She was running around like a five-year-old on Christmas morning, throwing last-minute items into her fifty-liter REI backpack. I got out of bed quietly and snuck out of the room to avoid the tornado. When safely out of the flying-clothes zone, I let my morning routine commence: sitting on the toilet while the shower water heated up and reading my Twitter feed to catch up on general news, politics, and sports. The day wed been planning for for six monthsand dreaming about for yearshad come; we were headed to the airport to leave our routine lives and travel across Europe and Southeast Asia with nothing but backpacks and each other.

Our wheels were up by 11:00 a.m. We were passengers B5 and B7 in Southwests boarding line. (We never did find that mystery B6 person who somehow managed to check in between us online.) After more snacks than we could eat, multiple coffees, and four hours of prep work for our trip, we touched down at LaGuardia Airport in New York City.