Most think that a trip begins when you step foot onto that first plane. Even still some believe that it begins when that last item is packed safely within your backpack. Usually being an item that at first seemed invaluable to your enjoyment of your trip but never gets lucky enough to see a foreign sky. It gets delegated to the bottom of your pack or stuffed into one of the extra compartments you know you'll never use.
A trip really begins with that very first itch. That innocent pang of inspiration. Of romance and dreams of what if. What if I went on that trip. What would I really be leaving behind anyway. How would I get there. What do I actually want to see. Could I actually do it on my own. Is it even really a realistic dream?
That first avalanche of impending doom and excitement that tries as hard as it could possibly try to cause your heart to explode with indecision. Only managing to raise, or even sometimes skip a few beats.
Where to next, August 2012. I'm standing in a cold, seemingly defunct factory on the outskirts of castlemaine hacking at frozen boxes of filled with pieces of swine. One pair of legs. Taken from the body at its shoulder. Hoof removed. The perfect place to commit a mental coup de gras. A day dream of sorts. Tropical air. Thick enough to touch. Warm enough to caress the skin. A different world in its own right.
Not so much tropical island or even a subcontinental exotic tryst. But more a secret love affair with a North African jewel. Not one to be ashamed of. I dreamed of softly hot tangines. Of the smell of sand and dirt cooking beneath the sun. My eyes, ears and nose becoming overloaded with the wonders of a new world. One that is a millennia older then myself. Where the kingdoms of bedtime stories built their empires and traded their souls to rule an eternity. Simply put I dreamed of Morocco and Egypt.
A nice dream. But not a cheap one. As I would find out not long after I first had the need to travel again. Flights to Egypt were a little unrealistic for a budget traveller. So how am I to get there?
