In Remembrance of Mark DeFeis aka Travelman727 -- the Ultimate TravBuddy

Wow, August 2012 was my final "goodbye post" as the official TravBuddy blog came to a close. I never dreamed that if I had the opportunity to write for TravBuddy again, it would be a post of this nature.

As most everyone is likely aware by now, Mark (Travelman727) passed away earlier this month due to health related issues, but we only found out two days ago. It would be an understatement to say Mark impacted all our lives at TravBuddy -- for me, he was TravBuddy. Without him, I would've never been a part of the TB community or be where I am today -- living out my dream traveling the world working as a freelance travel writer and blogger. I found out about Mark's passing as I landed in Amsterdam after a 14 hour flight and I spent the entire day yesterday crying and looking back at messages, photos, and blog posts of our travels together. I reached out to Eric to ask if it would be ok to write a tribute post to him as I think it's the best way to honor a community member who was such an integral part of TravBuddy from its earliest days.