Six months ago, I thought that itchy feet were a genetic disorder, doomed never to go away, no matter how much I travelled.
I’ve always had itchy feet. I’ve always longed to travel.
But now, after nearly six months of being constantly on the go, living out of a suitcase, not spending more than 5 nights in one place and not knowing where I’m heading next, I can officially report: Itchy Feet Can Be Cured.
I’m ready to go home.
Yes, Real Life has a lot of admin to deal with – bills, work, shopping, washing up, cleaning, hassle. And of course I’m not excited about any of that. But Travelling also has a lot of admin, just of a different flavour – figuring out places to stay, trying to find the right kind of food (three times a day), finding out how to get from here to there with the least amount of hassle and the smallest cost, searching for an ATM that accepts international cards and will give you the amount of money you’re asking for. There’s a lot of inconvenience about travelling – you have to do things now because there’s no option to wait until later (even as I type I’m thinking that we have to go for dinner soon and I don’t have any food on me). When you run out of cash, there’s nobody to borrow from. When you need to get somewhere, there’s nobody to give you a lift.
I’m really looking forward to the ease of being at home. People speaking my language. Food that I recognise. A bit of good old-fashioned stability.
And yes, we will miss the adventure… It has been the most extraordinary adventure imagineable. But I think there are small adventures to be had in real life. I’ll keep you posted on that.
For now, I have to go and pack my suitcase (for the 1657th time), find some dinner, and go to bed early. 4.30am wake-up call tomorrow, for our 33 hours of travel till we reach Cape Town. We’ve just recorded our last video diary, so that will go up soon, and there are a few more moments to share with you.
But this is the Last Real Blog Post. After six months! Crazy…
Our latest video shows our most eventful two weeks so far…
As Mark puts it, “After flying in to Jakarta, Indonesia, we travel to Yogyakarta to see the Hindu temple of Borobudur. A diversion to the Bromo region to see the active volcano Gunung Bromo and then off to Bali. Add to this the drama of failing insulin due to exposure to heat while traveling and the past week or so has been a roller-coaster of highs and lows.”
I realised, yesterday, one major way in which this trip is different from a holiday.
It’s different in a lot of smaller ways, of course – we’re working as we go, we’re doing it for a cause, I have to be a lot more aware of my health, we have to document everything along the way – but there was one main difference that I hadn’t really come to grips with:
We have to create a home as we go.
I think that’s part of the reason we haven’t become travel weary up to this point, is because we made a decision right in the beginning that we would spend slightly more on accommodation, and get something that was comfortable and clean and nice, rather than a cheap dingy hole. But even when things are comfortable and nice, they don’t always feel like a home. And when you’re camping out instead of living in a room, that’ll get you down…
I think that’s part of what was getting me down yesterday. We were staying in this beautiful location, with amazing views out over the ocean, but the actual room we were in was a little wooden thatched bungalow, with a creaky fan and a creaky bed, and not much else. The bathroom was tiny with only cold water and one of those toilets where you can’t flush the loo paper (you have to put it in a bucket next to the toilet, which I hate!) There was no fridge, no TV, no desk, no space for anything. And although it was clean enough (the cleaner came in every day and sprayed everything down with bug spray), there were mysterious droppings in the bathroom, and we didn’t want to buy any food and leave it in the room in case it attracted mice (our bungalow was right next to the forest).
Today, however, we’re staying in a lovely sterile room in a hotel just around the corner. It’s really big, and it has lots of light, and aircon, and a TV and a fridge and a large desk and chair. The bathroom not only has a hot shower, but a bathtub (hooray!) and everything is brand-new because the hotel just opened (I mean: brand-new – we pulled the sticker off the basin, and took the sticky tape off the fridge. It’s the newest place I’ve ever stayed in!) And I immediately feel happier. We can unpack, we’ve bought supplies of snacks and fresh fruit and yoghurt (which we can put in our fridge) and I feel like I can settle in here for a few days.
So that’s something to remember for the next many months… In order to make small homes along the way, we have to find places that make us feel comfortable. A worthy travelling lesson, I think.
