A Trekker's Life For Me!

'Nine planets round the sun, Only one does the sun embrace. Upon this watered one, So much we take for granted. So let us sleep outside tonight, Lay down in our mothers arms, For here we can rest safely. One sweet world, Around a star is spinning.' - DMB

About onesweetworld

Relaxing in Bali

Single, Attractive, 20-year-old Male Looking To Discover The World

Well, here it is - my very first travelogue - don't worry! I'll try to keep every page of it as entertaining and interesting as possible!

This all came together after a good friend of mine suggested that I blog to keep people back home updated, I contemplated how I would like to do that (it's been a long time since the after-school blogging on xanga or myspace). I always thought whatever I did would be geared towards a photo journal; a picture is worth a thousand words after all!

But at first I was unsure if I wanted anything to do with the world of technology and the Internet - the point was to wander out into the world to get lost and find seclusion! But as time passed I felt that it would be important to share my journey with the great people back home and with those I'll meet down the road! Just the very first of dilemmas a backpacker finds himself in I suppose?

So from this begins my tale, sprinkled with sparkles of philosophy and dashes of humour (hopefully all to good taste).

Back to sharing, I think it's very important for people to share - anything from experiences, knowledge and opinions to simply common courtesy, respect and emotion. Evidently, it's through sharing that ideas are born, dreams form and wisdom is discovered. With sharing we allow the opportunity for great friendships to spring and bloom.

Rather than racking my brain to put together more semi-intelligent sentences and examples that testify to the magnificence of sharing, I'll just accept that from the very first time we expressed a thought or feeling to someone close we knew what the benefits would be.

But of course, my friend telling me to start my own blog is not where all this came together. Most certainly not, as this idea sparked possibly several years before I first noticed and this journey really began in May of 2007. In my final year of high school, just the month before my final A-level exams, I went on a trip that would allow me to see travel in a new light - travelling light, that is - on my first rugby tour I towed just a sports shoulder bag containing:

2 pairs of shorts, 1 pair of board shorts

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1 pair of trousers and 1 shirt
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3 t-shirts and 1 polo shirt
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plenty of underwear and a towel
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toiletries
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sunglasses and flip-flops
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light reading, iPod and cheap camera
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rugby kit and club tour polo's
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With all this in my kit bag and spending money in my pocket it was the lightest I'd ever travelled abroad, but more significantly it was the first time abroad without family or close friends.

The experience of travelling without the comfort of family or best mates was rejuvenating, but don't get me wrong, I have a lot of time for family (and friends too of course) - but as some say, life's too short to not travel - so instead of trapping ourselves in one place with the same people, we often need to escape outside of our bubbles to find our own places for adventure, discovery and reflection.

The tour to Cambodia was a fantastic experience, a trip full of all the best beginnings of independent travel. Needless to say, I'll always look back on it as the first fork in the road.

In the end it was all about becoming good friends with teammates, discovering and coming to treasure Cambodia and it's people, and pursuing travel on my own terms. Moreover, as I'm sure most people who have visited Phnom Penh would agree, learning of and witnessing remnants of Cambodia's historical atrocities would be eye opening to anyone.

This experience was just the tip of the iceberg at this moment in my life and everything compounded together to result in a strong spiritual growth, a quick awakening of maturity and a rough shakeupof morality. In the summer of 2008, two great friends and I undertook a month long backpacking trip around South East Asia, which was everything I anticipated, and more. Upon my second visit to Cambodia I finally got to visit the majestic lost and found again temples of Angkor Wat, and the beauty of Cambodia's greater past and heritage fulfilled my restless soul briefly for a few great moments - until I realised that with the travel bug hardly tamed I wouldn't be happy unless I was on the road seeing all the other places I'd only dreamt of.

But enough back-story! That was then, and this travelogue and trip is about now, with a new me and fresh expectations. So a bit about myself and my philosophy (hopefully as the journey winds on and the blog expands I'll piece together the words to reveal and express more observations, experiences and philosophy):

First and foremost, I am a great believer in people, feeling that only good can come from giving your best and trying to get the best out of everyone. Life's too short to pass up great chances and too valuable to be wasted.

I guess I could think of myself as a follower of compassion, allowing a soulful affection towards nature and people to guide my judgement. Compassion is very important for the soul and ultimately for me it's the greatest thing anyone can possess in limitless quantity. After this it would be knowledge and understanding, the meaning of life for me is to find understanding and soak up knowledge along the way.

So carrying compassion and an unremitting thirst for adventure, I will go forth on my journey in a month's time with my mind and hopes set on sharing life, seeking out knowledge and finding understanding down the road.

Taking a deep breath and then chuckling to myself, I realise how wordy the whole introduction was.

But I guess with all new company what matters most is a good first impression, so I can't try cut corners with that. All I can say for sure is that at this point in just the planning stage it is important to keep my feet on the ground - being honest with myself (and everyone else too) and seeing there's no certainty in any of my plan so far - But as always I aim high and dream big, and over the years I feel I have effectively armed myself with:

applicable knowledge - years of research, preparation and planning, it's important to know what you're getting into. Knowledge and practice of how to stay safe, how to handle yourself on the road and how to survive on the road is invaluable. A general idea of challenges that might arise on your trip would be useful as well.
light travel experience - for the type of trip I'm undertaking, I feel experience is necessary and even I could do with more myself.
a winning attitude - on long trips by yourself I feel this is probably the most important. It's going to be a challenge to get through most days, to endure the rough and tumblealong the road and pick yourself up when it gets miserable.
a positive outlook - this is the most useful thing in life anyway. Not everybody you meet along the way is going to be the saviour you wished for, you won't get along with everyone on the road and it's important to just make do with what you have.
respect for others - it's important all the time really. But when on the road you'll need to respect a lot of new and different customs, traditions, rules and people. It can be the difference between getting yourself into trouble or being offered the help of a stranger.

I think a truly worldly person possesses these tools, to different degrees of importance and leniency. But travellers come in all shapes and sizes, whether they have levelheaded and down to Earth or eccentric and no holds barred personalities, I think what might be of greatest importance to all travellers is responsibility. On the road and fending for yourself takes a great deal of responsibility everyday, I didn't include it in my bullet points above because I don't think you can be sure you have what it takes to travel responsibly until you go out and find out for yourself.

What to expect in the future from my travelogue?

In my next post I will be explaining what the actual trip will be, before my departure I will also have a few posts about previous adventures and the last month of being at home. Future posts will also have some photos dug up from the dusty folders of my computer and many taken with my brand new camera, expect future posts to vary in terms of mood, length (I hope this is the longest of all posts on this travelogue) and formality. Along with the photos will hopefully be stories that encompass the fascinating side of travelling abroad, I hope my writing can bring readers away from the monotony of everyday work and life.

In my travels I will be trying out just about everything I get a chance to, setting foot in every country I possibly could, meeting lots of new and sure to be interesting people, visiting historical sites, places of importance and natural wonders. Among aspirations mentioned and other pursuits I hope to capture your imagination as well as fuel yourappetite for travel. I'll also expand my travelogue to offer helpful, tried and true advice for other travellers or hopefuls.

Then as gears grind on, I anticipate having a few posts about the unvarnished experiences of roughing it on the road. Of course posts will be littered in my usual joking manner, albeit somewhat lame humour (bad jokes may have been inherited inadvertently). So here's to hoping it's all just going to be awesome fun!

Also as I can't claim to be an expert on anything, all my posts/thoughts/photos are free and welcome to criticism.

Happy Travels,

Chris.