The travel bug didn't infect me right away.
I didn't do a 'gap year' or the backpacking thing. In theory I wanted to, but in practice I never got around to it. My first trip was a B&B tour of England and Ireland. And although I loved London, the Lakes District and coastal drives of the Emerald Isle, I was left underwhelmed. Then, years later, after a marriage, a house purchase, a divorce and all the other things we get caught up in as twentysomethings (ok I was a little late but who's counting?!?) I joined friends on a cycling tour in Vietnam. It was a brilliant trip and the appeal of adventures in new lands and strange cultures was becoming clear. Then, on another trip to SE Asia - snorkeling, scuba diving and sunbaking on a tiny remote island in Indonesia - the travel bug finally bit.
The appeal is in travelling light and embracing uncertainty. Something a (former) control freak with hoarding tendencies like myself couldn't fathom. I now agree with Tyler Durden ... "The things you own end up owning you". That's all changing for me now and a world of possibility has appeared. Now I'm looking for a more rewarding experience beyond "another day, another dollar". And I think I might have just found it at a recent fundraising dinner, but that's a story for later.
In the meantime, I've culled and sold many belongings, popped the rest into storage, rented my place out, found wonderful homes for my Jessi and Lili and will soon sell my car. I'm certainly travelling light now ... absolutely anything could happen!
And it just did. I've been offered a two year volunteering position at the School of St Jude in Tanzania and will be departing Australia on 18 August 2010 to live in Africa. But first I'm heading off for a tropical island holiday I booked in a crazy discount fare sale long before thoughts of volunteering on another continent entered my mind.
Gili T here I come, 5 days and counting!
