It's the end of an era.
I am sitting in my mum’s lounge with a cup of tea and CNN blaring in the background. Tui keep flittering past the window to gorge themselves on the flax flowers out the front, the birds are going berserk, shrieking as the sun bursts through the breaks in the clouds, sweeping by in the high Wellington wind. This is home.Our days have been filled with reunions and surprises, as we decided early on to keep our return secret so we could scare the crap out of our loved ones. Nice eh!!
We've managed to do so with Dad and Wendy, who we scouted straight away on the way through town from the airport - a testament to the village like size of Wellington; then arrived home to a dinner party at Mums where I freaked my brother Brett and my lovely Grandma; and since then have continued to spring our friends daily. It's been fantastic and there are still a few people to get around but I hold out little hope for the gossip wheel to keep our return secret for much longer.
The best decision I've made was to do it. My life savings are gone and substituted with a rather large visa debt but I am enriched with a huge wealth of experience and knowledge about the 22 countries we visited, about the world, and about myself. Personally it has grown me, in my sense of self, my values, and taught me truthfully my strengths and weaknesses.
It was a whirlwind tour of sorts, despite the length of time we were away, the fact we were always moving, never working a day and having had so much to see in every country. It was hard at times to decide what to see and what to skip as its impossible to do everything, but when torn we would remind ourselves of how amazingly lucky we were to be in these places at all and that we can’t see everything, so if we truly want to see these things we will return one day.
Our mantra was that this trip was like a world tasting platter. Arranged as a taste test of everywhere we have always wanted to go, it would provide us with a better understanding of the realities of these places and would serve as an experience to learn where we enjoy the most, where we didn't enjoy and where we want to return and travel more extensively in the future. This was the perfect type of travel for me as prior to this trip I had not travelled much and had little idea, really, of what I would prefer as I had little to compare it against.
It's hard to know yet the outcome as it is all so fresh and still filtering through, and we are so happy for the beauty and culture of home, but currently what sits in my mind is the Caribbean, Central America, and India. We loved Guatemala which has led to an interest in the entire Central American and Caribbean region, and unfortunately as India was always to be in monsoon season when we were able to go we couldn't visit it on this trip. Regardless it is a place that requires more time than we could have given it. Asia of course is high on our list to return to as it is beautiful, easily accessible from NZ and holds the lovely Rachael Lowe, Andy's sister, in Cambodia one of my favourite countries. And finally Europe is also top of mind as it is so rich, stylish and historical, we love it and will no doubt return there too. So pretty much everywhere is a goer, I should've known, it's rare I don’t try and enjoy a little bit of everything on a platter!
We met some amazing people on the road who will forever be in our memory and hopefully we will see again one day. I must say too, thanks for all the love and support we received from home, it always brought a grin and much gossip to hear from you.
Travel in the 21st century is such bliss, I shudder to think of the same trip fifty or even twenty years ago: no internet; no skype; no short haul flights; and in many areas no roads or access at all; and loads of dodgy overland travel. It would have been a dangerous, long, lonely and hard road. The reality now is that home is an internet cafe away, and if a country is not in conflict it can be travelled. The tourist market is one of the biggest consumer markets in the world and is protected as such. Travel in most regions is quite easy and many of the harder to travel countries have tourist police due to the government’s desire to protect its industry.
In eight months we suffered little more than a cold and the travellers tummy, nothing was stolen and we had little trouble. So I implore you, if you have the desire to travel go and do it, on your own terms, wherever it is you have always wanted to go, pick a goal, do your research and go.
Travelling is an addictive thing that leads to more and more roads and for me brought a strange reality of how huge and varied the world is, and yet how small and the same it is in many ways. Oh and guys, I must finally say, that we did it all in jandals
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