One Love Ambassadors Globe-Trotting

Ola’ from Portugal!

After nearly a decade of preparations, endless chatter, questions from people, and surrendering to the frustration that come with waiting!  We are finally living our European Dream!  Yes! We are living love and light every step of the journey as One Love Ambassadors, first stop Lisbon.

It’s been said that timing is everything and depending on how you look at it, we either left at the best time or worst time to travel.  Charles and I believe we left in Divine Timing and that we are exactly where we are supposed to be in this moment.

We have experienced so many FIRSTS already and we are only in the first week of the adventure.  Here’s a quick recap, this is our first backpack travel adventure, our first trip to Europe together; and our first time staying in an Airbnb abroad.  Charles and I are excited and grateful for the amazing opportunities ahead.

This is such a surreal experience for Charles and me.  For anyone who is currently in a time of preparation or waiting, just keep holding on, and be encouraged that you are closer today than yesterday.  Please believe, if you keep moving forward, you will get what you are hoping for or better; we are living proof of this truth! Also know that when you open your hands and use what you have you will attract what you need. I am writing this post, right now, as Charles and I are living the experiences, of a manifested dream.

For Charles and me, traveling as tourists is about as appealing as having gum stuck to the bottom of our shoes.  We have always chosen to go into places and situations with the hopes of having authentic experiences. As one love ambassadors Charles and I choose to make human connections while building relationships in love. We are strong advocates of community and strive to build global villages wherever we land!

Currently we are building a village here in Lisbon Portugal with our Airbnb host Ana.  Also, with the family who own the local restaurant across the road Vanessa and her parents.  Of course there’s the barista, Maria at the bakery we frequent almost daily for our favorite pastry, pastel de nata.  Of course, there is the kind young lady at the mini market who always smiles and greets us warmly, as she rings up our purchases.  This is huge when you are in a new place, heck it’s huge when you are in a familiar place.  Kindness is Timeless!

We have learned many valuable lessons during our first week in Portugal.  The most important lesson has been to stay in the NOW! This has allowed us to stay aligned with our purpose which is to spread love; one love drop at a time.  Another lesson is saying yes to adventure while understanding it could result in getting lost along the way.  Heck, sometimes getting lost allows the opportunities to find what’s needed in the process.  For instance, we said yes to taking an adventure to ride the metro train.  In route to the metro station, we got lost.  As we were trying to get back on course to the metro station, we found a laundromat that was close by.  If we would not have gotten lost, we probably would not have found the laundromat as it was out of the way of our normal path.

Even though we have a washer (no dryer) in our Airbnb, we decided to check out the laundromat, we discovered while being lost. As a result of that choice we met Marisol, the young lady who works at the laundromat.  Marisol was very kind and although she spoke little English, she helped us tremendously.   By the time we left the laundromat we were very acquainted with Marisol with the help of Google translate. We are looking forward to returning to the laundromat next week for another visit with Marisol.  

In the spirit of adventure, we have taken the train into Lisbon city center twice, on back-to-back days.  The first day in the downtown area and the next day by the ocean, both places had amazing vibes with a collection of people from all around the world.  It was simply beautiful, and even with all that is going on in the world today, there was laughter, music, dance, the fragrance of delicious foods and LOVE as people connected with one another. 

Although we are only beginning this globe-trotting journey, we are enthusiastic about what’s ahead and looking forward to sharing it here in these weekly updates so stay tuned for more globe-trotting updates! 

~One Love! DIANE/CHARLES

Thanks for reading, sharing and supporting the journey!