the journeyGrief is a journey; a difficult, heart-wrenching, gut-churning journey. It's not a place I would have ever asked to have gone, but I know that everyone who has ever loved someone will make this journey at some point in their life. My journey began on April 21, 2007 when my twenty-one year old brother, Zach, died in a tragic hiking accident outside his Air Force base in Aviano, Italy. I was fifteen years old at the time. But if grief is a journey, where do we go after the initial shock of losing a loved one has passed?
Well, seven years later my friend and I took a twenty-nine day backpacking trip across Europe where we retraced Zach's final steps before he died. I am currently writing a book about my experience and hope to publish it during the summer of 2015. This journey was inspired after I discovered a box of Zach's receipts, brochures, guides, and journals from his travels. While looking through this box, I was able to piece together his travels and map out my trip. To learn more, please feel free to explore this website and check out our route. |
European Adventure from Sam Weber on Vimeo. |
Zach's Travel Documents