It takes a certain kind of person to agree to travel with a virtual stranger, into unknown territory, for an unknown period of time. A rebellious soul; fearless, faithful, and perhaps a bit crazy.

That was Mason and I when we agreed to travel together to Hawaii, island hop, and explore the unknown.

All in all we wound up spending around 100 hours together.

To spend 100 hours straight with another person can be challenging no matter how long you’ve known one another.

We didn’t know for certain where we’d sleep on any given night; unsure of how we’d get there, or even where we were going.

Our 100 hours together was characterized by uncertainty and vulnerability.

The defining characteristics of any moment worth living.

You learn a lot about a person in 100 hours. But you learn even more about yourself.

See, when you’re traveling with a stranger, you can’t afford to worry about whether or not they like you. You’re stuck together regardless, and you’re only option is to be yourself.

It’s not like most initial meetings, where you tip toe around one another for an undetermined amount of time in what I call the “Getting Comfortable dance”. It’s not like that at all.

The only dance you’re doing is your very own, to a song that comes directly from your heart, to the very drum that makes yours beat.

You come to appreciate the differences, the things that make us unique as individuals and also the imperfections, which define and unite us as human beings.

When you’re traveling with a stranger, of course, you hope that the other person’s moves will be in rhythm with your own.

Sometimes they are. Sometimes they’re not.

But at the end of 100 hours, you come to learn that it doesn’t really matter anyway…

What matters most is that you stepped onto the dance floor at all.

Because when you only have 100 years to live, you have to know your own steps so good, and trust your own rhythm so much, that it will one day be unmistakable and undeniable when you find that person who sways the way you do.