The Next Chapter : 2016 a year for travel
About 6 months ago I decided that I was going to leave the life that I had set up in beautiful Cayman Islands to go traveling again full time, That time has now come, and the adventure has begun.
I moved to the Cayman Islands in June of 2010, fresh off a 4 month adventure backpacking around South America and I was not ready for the traveling to end. I was contacted by a previous Chef of mine while I was still in Ecuador, and he asked me if I would be interested in coming to Cayman to help him and my good friend Scott Korzack re-open a failing restaurant. The terms were as follows..
-they would pay for my flight
-I had a car to use that was paid for
-they already had an apartment, I just needed to pay rent
-and I needed to commit to a one year contract, without ever having stepped food on the island.
So I sat back in my chair in an internet cafe on the beach in Montanita, and thought about this proposition for all of about 30 seconds before I said “where do I sign!?”. If I didn’t take this job I would have had to go back to my home country of Canada and find a job, either in my home town of Barrie, or more likely, Toronto. The option to go to Cayman was being served up on a silver platter, and the timing couldn’t have been any better. How could one refuse the opportunity to do what they love on a tropical island in the Caribbean?
Before I knew it, that one year contract turned into 6 years on the island, where I had the honor of meeting some of the most amazing people in the world who have since turned into life long friends, and had some of the most incredible times of my life to date, both personally and professionally. But as they say, all good things must come to an end, and so i write this as my farewell to Cayman... at least for the time being.
During the last month or so, my priorities shifted, tying up all the loose ends of my life and getting my ducks in a row for this next chapter. During that time this blog was put on the back burner, and I also took a much needed week vacation with a few of the people I hold most dear to me (stay tuned for posts and videos about that trip, coming soon).
But as I sit on this flight from Toronto to Mexico City to begin what is sure to be the largest and most exciting trip of my life, I have some time to reflect and to start writing again.
Tacos el pastor, fist meal after I landed in Mexico City
Over the next month I will be in Mexico City, Guadalajara, Monterrey, Los Angeles, then headed over to Vietnam to visit my brother who lives in Ho Chi Minh City, then after that, who knows where the wind will take me. I hope you will follow along with me on my journey as I search high and low for the most interesting and unique foods from around the globe.
-Dylan