I am by no means 'well travelled' compared to a lot of people in this world and have only scratched the surface of this funny old place we call Earth but during my time 'backpacking' as one would call it, I have noticed that the term 'travelling' is becoming to mean something completely different to what I think it once was.
Since returning back to the UK in February 2014 I have lost count of the number of times that people have asked me: "Have you done with travelling now? Are you coming home to settle?". I find this odd for a number of reasons, firstly; travelling is not a tick in the box activity, it can't just be done, you don't just visit a few countries when you turn 18 for a few months and then that's it you've 'done travelling'. To me the purpose of travelling is to feed that desire to explore new places and gain new experiences. It's not to get on a plane, go to the other side of the world and then do the exact same thing that you would do in the UK, in that sense you've travelled yes but only in terms of geography. I have encountered Brits abroad speaking to locals like they are dirt, I've witnessed people playing music on their iPhones in Buddhist temples, carrying more make up around with them than the MAC counter at Debenhams, refusing to eat local food when on a jungle trek and it just astounds me. I think to myself- 'why bother coming here, save your plane fare and the hassle of moving around and just stay at home'.
The second thing I find odd about those questions is the use of the word 'settle', it's said in such a negative tone and seems like its seeped in inevitability. It feels to me like a lot of people are thinking, 'yeah yeah you've had your fun abroad but now its the inevitable time that you need to return home and be a proper grown up' and I think that's just total tosh. To me, the mindset of a traveller is to want to explore and that doesn't simply stop when you land back in Gatwick and head to your life of seemingly doomed stability and mundanity. There is so much to see and do in the UK and we are less than a few hours flight away from most of the countries in Europe so it seems bizarre to me that visiting these places is not deemed as 'travelling' in the same sense as a flight to Australia or Thailand. I believe that the success of a trip is based on the quality of experience not the longevity or distance travelled.
When Sam and I told everyone that we were thinking of flying home to the UK for a while, our expat friends looked at us with concern, 'is everything ok?', 'is somebody dying?', 'have you ran out of money?' were some of the responses we got. They simply couldn't understand why we had made the choice to move back home for a bit. It was almost like we were deemed as failures for not staying out there for another 10 years but I used to find that those who were the first to condemn us going home were the ones who had ceased to 'travel' anymore and just seemed to be avoiding life for as long as they could. And by that I do not mean 2 point 4 children, white picket fence, fancy office job life I mean that they just smoked weed, got drunk, hated their jobs, got drunk again and seemed to be stuck in this limbo of doing anything to avoid returning to the UK.
Exploration for me is a state of mind, its about wanting to eat at the new restaurant, see that new exhibition, see areas of local interest, find out about the history of the place and that can be done, in my eyes, anywhere on this bloomin' planet. It's about being curious. It's not about buying the right clobber and donning your best 'traveller swag' (you know those types; been abroad for two weeks, already got dreadlocks, wearing potato sack trousers and talk about 'energy' a lot) it's about broadening your view on the world and understanding that there is a world outside the safety of the only town you've ever known.
As I said, I am by no means a 'travel guru' by any stretch of the imagination and most of the places that I've visited are far from being off the beaten track (Most of Western Europe, Thailand, Laos, Singapore, Australia and New Zealand) but I have always tried to visit these places with the utmost respect for local culture and have sought to experience things which I feel I cannot in the UK. Don't get me wrong, I'm speaking from experience here as a 27 year old and I know that I was once a fresh- faced 18 year old who jumped on a plane for I think the third time in my life and headed to the East Coast of Australia for a few months of mayhem but I went in with the best intentions and really tried to absorb as much of the trip as I could. Of course there were pub crawls and hostel living and extreme budgeting but for me, that time in 2007 in Australia, was more of an experience in independence than anything too cultural.
Now that I am older I have no desire to join 'Steve's super crazy proper mental pub crawl' where you're encouraged to play games like 'hide the lemon' for a free shot of piss weak vodka and I literally shudder at the thought of sharing a room with 20 other people where the need to sleep with your laptop padlocked to your tits is essential and spewing, having sex, playing music at 4am and stealing another's food/ shower gel/ money can sometimes seem to be the rule rather than the exception.
I don't think that I really took in all that I saw when I was 18 years old and I think that my time travelling as a 'backpacker' (in the aforementioned circumstances) are over. I want to be able to eat at the nice restaurant and stay in the hotel which doesn't have bed bugs, I want to be able to take that helicopter flight and see that show and not have to live off rice for the rest of the week because of it.
There's so much of the world that Sam and I are desperate to see and I have a bucket list as long as my arm when it comes to the activities that I want to do. I do believe that I will be able to really appreciate these places so much more by being a bit older and I know that I will never be 'done with traveling'- there's too much of this beautiful planet to take in and I would love to think that when I'm old and grey and my legs don't work like they used to before (wait is that a song?!) that I will have stories rather than things as my legacy.
If you've got the travel bug and want some inspiration to get up and go here are some sources that will give you the ultimate itchy feet:
- Fun for Louis and Ben Brown - 2 vloggers who are travelling the world and most likely not paying a penny for it
- This band called Set Sail were busking in the Sydney high street when I was there and not only do they write really good music, they also travelled the world on a tour that they called 'The World Stage' which was funded purely by record sales and the generosity of others through a very effective social media campaign
- The blog; Camels and Chocolate is by an American lady named Kristen Luna and I've been reading it for 5 years +. It chronicles her life as a travel writer and explorer.
Hello and welcome to This Ruth Is On Fire, a UK blog which is a haven for random thoughts and sarcastic observations.
I'm also into books, clothes and visiting places too.
