Is It Any Wonder?

Well, about two and a half months after returning I thought I’d write something about what I felt about the trip, to put it into context and extract any meaning out of it, if there is any.

Probably the most significant thing about this trip, which was evident from before I left, was that I really missed my life and friends in London. It seems strange for me to say that because it’s something that I’ve never felt before. But over the last year, 2009, a lot of things fell into place. And leaving was very hard, mainly because at the time I thought I wouldn’t be seeing three of my best friends when I returned. As it turns out, that wasn’t the case. But still, I found my thoughts frequently wandering back to Hammersmith throughout the trip. I guess it wasn’t so bad, as I knew I was always going home at the end.

Another thing that I realised was that the thing about travelling that is the most enjoyable, which actually has little to with travel at all, is that I’m not working. This is a little worrying as it’s something that I’m going to have to face for the foreseeable future. But working is a chore for me and I enjoy life when I’m not doing it. Perhaps I need to change my job, perhaps I just have to accept it. Who knows? Does it matter?

Fatigue played a large part as well. Things started off well, but I think the simple fact is that I have a constitution that needs a lot of fuel and if there’s one thing that is hard to do when you’re travelling, particularly in a foreign country, is to eat regularly and to eat well. As a result after about the first month I found myself feeling really tired all the time. It’s a bit of a general problem and I’m actually reading a book about that very subject right now.

Perhaps the lowest part of my trip was being in Ecuador without many people to hang out with, when my aunt died. That was tough to take. Ecuador in general was a bit lonely, apart from the Galapagos Islands. Just the way it worked out, I guess. And getting mugged in Quito probably didn’t help.

However looking at these points it seems that I might be a bit negative about the whole thing. There were still some awesome moments. My first week in Buenos Aires stands out pretty well. Cycling in Bariloche. Iguaçu was beautiful. Salvador carnival – the first night at least – was amazing to see. Meeting Alain again and Ryan. Galapagos. Sandboarding in Florianopolis. The amazing landscapes of Salar de Uyuni. The people I met in La Paz and Cusco. The landscape of Machu Picchu. All of Colombia from Medellin to Bogotá. The beauty of the Andes. The heat of the coastline. The people I met. All of it was great.

Having said that, I think this will be last major travelling thingy that I’ll do for the foreseeable future. I’ve seen most of what I wanted to. I can see the patterns, the nature of humanity, how culture develops, the slums, the billions of poor who are barely surviving, the ancient monuments echoing the sound of civilisations long past. I always like seeing the larger perspective and I’ve seen it now. I know how the other half live, and Hammersmith averages out pretty well. It makes me happy to be alive. I can see the sound and the fury as it rushes past, and I smile.