Three Years and Counting

Three Years…

Usually at this time of year, I roll out an ode to the “power of emotion” instilled within me, and the “power of evocation” which surrounds me. But today, I’m merely sitting back with a coffee in my small Wellington flat, and smiling contently.

…the quickest way to see a country, is to slowly open your eyes.

Smiling because I’ve done what I set out to do.

I’ve forcibly taken hold of my life, and I’ve travelled. I’ve travelled across ten countries over the past three years, and thirty-seven throughout my life.

Not as many notches as you may have thought, for such a perpetual, and vocal traveller. However there’s very good reason for this, and If you’re a discerning traveller, learn from my experience and realise that the quickest way to see a country, is to slowly open your eyes.

My Favourite Country

…a destination, in every sense of the word.

India has become an indelible mark on my soul, and my memories of my time there, are among the greatest gifts from my journey.

Without wanting to smear clichés all over your screen; India is intensely powerful in so many ways. Its presence and aura has bled into the subcontinent, making the entire region a kaleidoscopic adventure, and I doubt it will ever be surpassed. It goes far deeper than any notion about travel. India is a destination, in every sense of the word.

My Favourite Journey

For there to be great destinations, there needs to be great journeys. I’m fortunate, that in recent times I’ve journeyed along the Trans-Mongolian railway, I’ve journeyed through the Gobi and off the beaten track in China. I’ve crossed the Himalayas, via the behemoth of Everest and driven almost every highway in Australia. Yet one journey stands out, and again, it’s within India.

Through villages swarming with smiles…

Together with Reb — my sickeningly cute girlfriend whom I met in China — we found a man called Ganesh. As happens in India, we had a quiet word, and we rented a Royal Enfield Bullet motorcycle. Over the following thirty days, we crossed South India from Chennai in the east, up and over the Western Ghats to Kochi in the west, and back again.

This was a journey of unbridled adventure. Through villages swarming with smiles, through towns abuzz with trade and into the black heart of cities, entrenched in gooey chaos.

The exhaustion of that journey, cost Reb and I our blossoming relationship. We broke up shortly after we handed the keys to the Enfield back to Ganesh.

So perhaps there’s another journey I should mention.

My Most Important Journey

…the girl will not be.

I decided to flee Bali, for fear of running into Reb. The girl I’d split in two, and drained of tears in India. I heard on the grapevine she was there, and I could feel it in my bones. I couldn’t face running into her so I decided it was time to face my travelling nemesis; Southeast Asia.

“Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos.” The eternal echo of round the world travellers.

But I ran into Reb the night before I left: “I’m flying to Singapore tomorrow,” I sighed, “and then onto Malaysia and Thailand.”

48-hours later, I completed a round trip from Bali to Singapore, and back into her arms. I learned something vital that day, something I’ve repeatedly failed to grasp in my life: the country of my dreams will always be there, but the girl will not be.

… and Counting

The longer I’ve been on the road, the shorter time appears. There’s a lot I aim to achieve with my life, and travelling endlessly and without cause isn’t one of them. It’s important for me to attain the right balance, and if these passed three years have taught me anything, it’s to appreciate the things I have in life.

Milestones in travel are somewhat tedious. I’m more excited to be staring down the barrel of the future than picking off the charred residue of the past. Not only because I’m doing it from the destination of my childhood dreams: ‘the other side of the world.’

Tagged as: blogsherpa, India