Travel & People

I saw an article today that reminded me of some of the reasons why I liked traveling so much.  A week or two long vacations are nice, but it's not quite the same as taking a long chunk of time, perhaps by leaving everything behind, and traveling the world. 

I did a 6-months long backpacking trip around Southern Africa, New Zealand, and Australia.  I had given up a lot - a good job and my material belongings (save a closet sized amount of stuff I put in storage), not to mention wiping out a good chunk of my savings.  I will never regret doing the trip though, and after all I have done in my life, that trip probably ranks first in the most memorable things I have done.  (Sailing across the Atlantic on a tall-ship ranks second.)  I did the trip alone and contrary to what some would think, it doesn't get so lonely.  To the contrary, because you are alone, you make an effort to reach out and meet new people.  As the article says, these new friends you make and the experiences you make with them are what makes traveling solo great.  I don't think I put much emphasis on the people when I wrote my blog, but looking back, the trip wouldn't have been nearly as great had I not met all of these great people:  Phil & Inga from Johannesburg, Dave from Cali, Tess & Chris from Brighton, Ben from Wales, Jon & Baz from UK, Claire & Dave from UK, Mike from Wellington, Alan from Scotland & Mikael from France, Gary from NZ, the Irish contingent, the overlanders on Nina with me, Stephen & Matt from Holland, and many others.

Now that I am married, I doubt I will be doing such long trips solo again anytime soon, but I do hope that the two of us will embark on and adventure together someday.  I did meet couples on the trip, and just because you are with someone doesn't mean you don't have to meet new people.  Perhaps you get the best of both worlds this way - meeting new people but having that close someone with you the whole way.  I'm enjoying my time in Alaska, but it hasn't killed the travel bug.  Being here is simply a means of keeping things 'interesting" to keep the bug at bay until that time comes.  Brad & I have talked about traveling South America together.  It's still on my list of wanna-do's in my life.  Along with a round around China, a pilgrimage in Shikoku, and a month in Tanzania. 

Anyways, I was reminiscing a bit, so thought I'd do a little shout-out to all those people I met on that one trip almost 8 years ago.  Thanks for making that trip of a lifetime that much better by being a part of it.