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Saturday, September 6, 2008

Anniversary

I have now been on the road for a year. I am only counting the time from when I flew to China but have been out of work for around 16 months. I have spent all of the year in Asia and still feel I have only scratched the surface of the continent. I would love to go back to a lot of the places I have been but also to visit some places in countries where I only saw a little of the country. There are still a huge number of Asian countries that I have not touched and I think I could spend a lifetime in Asia just traveling. During the year there are only a few places that I really have no desire to see again. For some reason these places I hated are the ones that stick in my memory more than the places I really liked.

I wonder at times how much of that time has been spent waiting. I seem to always be waiting for something. I wait often in line to buy a ticket or ask a question. I am always waiting for a bus, a boat, or a plane and of course all the time waiting to get through security or check in. There is also the waiting for a visa or waiting at immigration. On flights there is also the waiting for my bags. I sort of feel at times of the year of travel I have spent 2 months of the time waiting for something.

In all it does not feel like it has been a year and when I look at the time I think I may be ruined for travel when I am working again. The idea of doing a week vacation and trying to see everything in a country now does not appeal to me at all. I really like just going with the flow and not having a reservation anywhere. Finding a room or getting a ticket to the next place has only been a problem in a couple of cases. This being said I still do not like getting into a new place after dark with no reservation. Everything looks better in the light of day.

I have seen a few sites that where on a sort of must see before I die list but the strange thing about it is that after a year of travel the list is longer than when I began. Talking to people about the place they have been and the things they have seen just makes the list grow and for every place I sort of mentally check off I have add 2. I guess it is a good thing that I don’t really keep a list or it would seem overwhelming.

Of all the amazing things that I have seen and places that I have visited the highlight of the trip has been the people. I have enjoyed the people along the way more than anything I have seen. I think that traveling is more about the journey between the attractions and the experiences while getting there than actually seeing the sites.

In a lot of ways I am tired of traveling but I also have the travel bug and I think it is really going to be hard to go back to a job. That is still a ways off since the money has lasted a lot longer than I would have ever guessed. Even though quitting my job for a year of travel was really scary it is best decision I have ever made in my life.

2 comments:

  1. Hi!
    I imagine it will be hard to go back to a job after traveling for a year. Just think, you can save for another long trip! Neat that you found the people more interesting then the places. Think that might be true of most trips if we took time to meet the people.
    Carolyn

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  2. Yes going back to work is going to be hard. I am not sure I will recall anything that I use to know which is my greatest fear. I figure I will do this again in 5 to 10 years if I still can get around and handle the long bus rides.

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