My Aunty Ange made a big impression on me at a very young age with her idyllic stories of travel and recapturing moments of the things she saw and did in far away lands. It started with her that I began the love affair I now have with travel. She used to call it the "bug". I now call it that too, except it's the "itchy bug".. An infectious state of mind where nothing else compares to that obsession one holds with travel, and if ever ceased begins to itch and scratch. I've been home for nearly 5 months now and boy am I itching! Itching to get the hell on a plane and go somewhere, anywhere! I shouldn't be so itchy, it was only June that I was lapping up the rays in tropical Fiji, but that's not travel. That's vacation. Isn't it?
I'm starting to doubt whether or not I've really travelled. You know, I've been here and there, and sure I've seen, been and done a lot, but it's all been a little too comfy for my liking. I've stuck to the beaten track and taken the same photographs everyone else has, and despite being a big believer in improvising and getting lost, I've never really felt lost. I still haven't been to a non-English speaking country (except for Japan with my dad), I've still never been to a 3rd world country, I've still never travelled with no intentions of when or where I plan to end up... Yet. Chrust.. does this make me a tourist? I almost feel like I've never travelled. As the saying goes, "the traveller doesn't know where he's going and the tourist doesn't know where he is".
My aunty once recalled an incident in Turkey where she had to wash her hair in a water trough because she was roughing it through Europe, avoiding hostels/hotels at all costs. It was awe inspiring listening to the intrepidness of her travels. It sounded like real adventure. That's what you call a real nomad, a real traveller. I don't know if its just me, but I simply don't think woman can get away with the same things today as they could back then. I couldn't imagine backpacking Europe on my own like she did. Safety, unfortunately, is the biggest factor for travellers these days; especially for women. But it makes me question the real essence of travelling now, and where I fit onto the spectrum of things. It was stories like this that begun the affair, and ignited my passion for 'real' world travel.
I think too many people underrate the
experience of travel. It baffles me how many people I know of
personally don't, or don't even have a desire to. Being utterly UNable to
relate to such numbness I think people miss out on the time of their lives because they
don't realize how exciting, rewarding and life-changing it is to pack a bag and just go. Way too often, in fact this even happened yesterday, people say to me "Ohh, your so lucky!" ...Lucky?
What's luck got to do with anything? I MADE this happen, what's stopping
you?! Sure it took a bit of hard work but the life experience you gain through travel is totally priceless. I shouldn't have to tell you that for you to know yourself. For those of who are globe trotters, ignore. For those who aren't - with all due respect, get a reality check and jump on the next cheap one-way flight. Somewhere. Anywhere! There is so more to life than being a passenger.
I believe
how one travels is more important than where one travels. Living in
places, or even being a long-term stayer is a great way to learn about
yourself, the culture, the country and the people of our world. I suppose that's more-or-less what I've done so far. They've generally been long-haul stays opposed to trotting from destination to destination and getting 'tasters' of each. I think that's a great way to see the world, although I suppose with time being a finite factor, there's is way too much to see and do to be spending too much time in one place *sigh*.. If only time, money and maternal clocks weren't the all-important factors, haha! Guess the only way to combat this is to make travel a lifetime commitment then :D
“Twenty
years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do
than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe
harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” - Mark
Twain
Peace and Aroha xx
