The End of 10 Months, The Beginning of a New Me...
After all this time that you, my faithful readers have been following me around on my adventures through Europe it's about time that I admit this: my apologies for the slight deception in my blog title. Although I did take an 11 month sabbatical from work, my time out of country has actually been 10 months - 303 days to be precise. Hopefully, this is neither earth-shattering nor credibility-eroding news (you know by now that my blog is not a means to massage my own vanity). Anyway, I believe that in all other aspects of my travel journalism, I have been straight as an arrow, blunt in honesty, sharp in wit, and forcefully thought provoking.
I don't know why you follow my blog, but I do know why I write: not to shine glory on myself as a travelling wunderkind and bask in your awe, adoration and jealousy (well, maybe just a bit). No, not that. I write to open your minds, to dispel stereotypes, to broadcast the true beauty and diversity of the world, to bring awareness to your conscience, to inspire and ultimately motivate you to change and improve yourself. And hopefully whatever little changes I create in you will ripple out and affect those around you and maybe, in the end, this world will be a better place.
I hope I have achieved these goals, or my blog was for naught.
One request I received was to write a blog about how to save money while travelling through Europe. I have decided not to blog about this because it is not one of the goals of my blog. However, I do ask that you contact me directly if you are looking for specific advice on this matter. The only thing I will write here is that the most important step is simply to start travelling. Once you do, you will quickly learn ways to save money and also learn what you are capable of doing in order to save.
Your travelling style may also change to focus on cheaper, more fulfilling activities. For me, the best memories of my trip were not of museums and churches, or beaches and parties. They were working on a farm, teaching English, meeting great people, learning and expanding my mind; they were times of challenging and inspiring myself, detaching from the real world and immersing in a dream world as just a guy with a backpack.
10 months was long enough for me to become detached from home and reinvent myself. Yet - not completely and utterly so. Occasionally the ominous deadline of June 2013 loomed over my travel planning, like a pinprick of light at the end of an immensely long hallway, barely discernible but clearly present, and growing larger by the day. It loomed heavily at times, enough to not feel completely free to go everywhere I wanted.
Some of you may think why the hell I spent my entire travels in just Europe, Turkey and Morocco. At times, I also thought this myself. But the fact of the matter is that even within 10 months of travelling around one of the tiniest smallest continents, I barely scratched the surface of Europe. There is so much natural and cultural diversity here, it could take a lifetime to see it all. And if I had but one regret, it's that I didn't spend long enough during every stop along the way.
Which leads me to my first life lesson learned...
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| Me in the beginning - colourless, hairless |
I don't know why you follow my blog, but I do know why I write: not to shine glory on myself as a travelling wunderkind and bask in your awe, adoration and jealousy (well, maybe just a bit). No, not that. I write to open your minds, to dispel stereotypes, to broadcast the true beauty and diversity of the world, to bring awareness to your conscience, to inspire and ultimately motivate you to change and improve yourself. And hopefully whatever little changes I create in you will ripple out and affect those around you and maybe, in the end, this world will be a better place.
I hope I have achieved these goals, or my blog was for naught.
One request I received was to write a blog about how to save money while travelling through Europe. I have decided not to blog about this because it is not one of the goals of my blog. However, I do ask that you contact me directly if you are looking for specific advice on this matter. The only thing I will write here is that the most important step is simply to start travelling. Once you do, you will quickly learn ways to save money and also learn what you are capable of doing in order to save.
 |
| Me in the middle |
10 months was long enough for me to become detached from home and reinvent myself. Yet - not completely and utterly so. Occasionally the ominous deadline of June 2013 loomed over my travel planning, like a pinprick of light at the end of an immensely long hallway, barely discernible but clearly present, and growing larger by the day. It loomed heavily at times, enough to not feel completely free to go everywhere I wanted.
Some of you may think why the hell I spent my entire travels in just Europe, Turkey and Morocco. At times, I also thought this myself. But the fact of the matter is that even within 10 months of travelling around one of the tiniest smallest continents, I barely scratched the surface of Europe. There is so much natural and cultural diversity here, it could take a lifetime to see it all. And if I had but one regret, it's that I didn't spend long enough during every stop along the way.
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| Me by the end - colourful, hairier, wiser |
I know your blog is not about this (and coudln't agree more), but i think if you truly want to inspire people to make a change, to pack their bags, become vulnerable, you should also give them a couple of ideas, tools on how to do this, tips on how to get started and to show them with concrete examples that it is not nearly as expensive, difficult as they tell themselves it is, but also to be aware and know how to avoid getting into unpleasant and even dangerous situations -although Europe is still one of the safest continents i guess.
ReplyDeleteSure, for those eager to learn, there are countless sites, but i think a few good, PERONAL tips like a money belt or bodybag, an extralight traveling towel could be helpful, since many don't even know of their existence.
I hate to admit it but you're right, Hanga!
ReplyDeleteOkay this will happen, but I've got to release some other ones first.