Of course there are places I still want to go, things I want to see. Most of the things I had lusted for, I have gotten. Today I look at travel, this good friend that has given me so much, and there are few burning desires left. You only have to hope it’s powerfully good, and it changes you for the better. They say people don’t change, but it’s not true. One smile from a child was enough to challenge a lifetime of beliefs. They made me contemplate who I was, and who I wanted to be. Things they said – most likely just ordinary sentences to them – were profound and thought provoking for me. It was the people that held my hand through those experiences: The conversations we had, the way they lived, the things they taught me. I saw all the famous sights I could handle, and then some, the most magnificent places in the world.īut none of that changed me. I felt like a video game character – levelling up with every new challenge. I traversed the world and learned to surf, to dance, to fight, to cook, languages, yoga, food, sports – all these new skills and experiences I had to absorb, from all over the world. I discovered something new about myself every day.Įventually I learned, that was the real journey. One day I stared death in the face and wasn’t scared for a second another day something as simple as buying a coconut at the market terrified me beyond belief. It was a wild ride of different friendships, relationships, challenges and confrontations. Each of them had lived such a different life to me and had such different values – it was like an endless philosophy lecture – and my perspectives were tested daily. I met a new and interesting person every day. My fellow travellers taught me different travel hacks and tips, they recounted stories of faraway and obscure places that I added to my ever-growing list. I had a mission now, and New Zealand had to be left behind.įor half a decade I continued my quest. I had discovered a new world, a new life, a new community. All the people did was watch rugby and go to the gym anyway. I’d go back for one or two months, see the doctor, see the dentist, say hi to my Mum, and then I’d leave again. Why did they try to keep me in one place my whole life?įrom that point on, for many years, I refused to go back home. Why was I always told these places were dangerous? I felt like I’d been living a lie my entire life. I really felt like Jim Carrey, in the Truman Show. I couldn’t understand how the world was so big, how little I had known. I would lie in bed at night, questions burning through my skull. When those things started happening, my mind was blown. Never been invited to someone’s house for dinner. Never talked to the person next to me on the bus. I’d gone places with Mum and Dad and stayed in hotels and caught taxis everywhere. I mean, I’d travelled before, but I’d never really travelled before. And I was battle-ready, with a suitcase full of hand sanitiser and malaria medicine and anti-diarrhea pills. It was important because something was changing. I was actually doing something. I was actually going somewhere. I didn’t realise what an important moment in my life that was. How would I even survive out there? I can’t even imagine. Will I ever really go to Africa? Probably not in this lifetime. I’ll eat noodles at the street carts every day, have those pancakes with the fried egg every morning. I’m going to go China, I’ll finally learn to speak Chinese. That’s Argentina, Ecuador, Colombia! Man, those places must be so incredible. I could go to South America and learn to salsa with the pretty ladies. It consumed my every thought – all the places I could go when I finally quit this job. I was a zombie.ĭuring that life, the thought of travel tantalised me. I can’t believe I never crashed during those commutes. Not to mention the morning’s main event: Sitting in the car half asleep for forty five minutes and hating my life. That’s how much I really hated the morning. And I say slip it on because I never actually untied it each night, just loosened it enough to slip over my head, so I had one less thing to do the next morning. I woke up, snoozed the alarm for half an hour, ironed a shirt, slipped the tie on. The person that used to go to that cubicle every day. I think back today, to the person I was before I stepped on the plane. But like they always say, dreams really do come true. I thought I’d be chasing that “travel around the world” adventure my whole life. Because the truth is, I never dreamed I would actually succeed. I wanted to experience everything.įor years, I roamed around the world, and eventually I did exactly that. There was a list of places I had to go, things I had to do, experiences I had to tick off a list. I knew exactly what I was trying to achieve.
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