The Magic of Traveling

It was two a.m. at the edge of the world. I heard the ocean crashing all around me, the salt hung in the air. My hair draped over my shoulders in wind swept waves and my skin was dewy with sweat. All these different senses were being felt, yet all I could think about was him. A hot summer night at the edge of the world.

We had left the bar in the seaside town of Lagos, Portugal and were headed back to our hotel. Walking hand in hand, I couldn’t decide if we were buzzed off of the alcohol or because we were young and in paradise. We walked lazily, letting ourselves get lost on the side streets. That’s when I heard it, and smelled it, and felt it. We ended up at a dead end, a stone wall blocking off a steep cliff that fell into the ocean. We ran up to it, our hands pressing against the coolness of the stone. We leaned outward, looking out into the black abyss, the wind and salt hitting our face. It felt like time stood still at the edge of the world.

I turned around and looked up at him; amazed we stumbled on something so amazing by pure chance. He looked down at me and pressed me back up against the stone wall overlooking the Atlantic. He pushed my hair out of my face and then cradled it in his hand. When I looked into his eyes, I didn’t see love or lust. I had only known him for a little more than a month, after all. I saw something I had never experienced before. I saw want, I saw need, I saw longing. I saw openness and adventure. I saw something I’ll never experience ever again.

He kissed me at the edge of the world. The wind swept over our skin and the waves licked the cliff behind me, over 50 feet below. His lips were on mine and we felt like one. Me, him, our warm bodies, the cold stone, the never-ending ocean, and the salty air had all come together to create this dynamic feeling I still can’t explain. The next day, we were on our six-hour trip back to our home base in Seville, Spain. It was sad leaving, but we had shared something not many people get to experience: magic at the edge of the world.