End
of my trip after 6 months + traveling around, I had to go back eventually back
to my stoic lifestyle, work, friends and family. It is very hard for me to
describe the feelings that I had coming home. Somehow life on the road had
become a routine and in such it became the home.
Home or where I used to stay and work
(Singapore) or where I grew up (Malaysia) had a different meaning.
Everyone wants a piece of the story …
only a piece
Despite the increasing number of
adventurers and acceptance that traveling the world is becoming a norm, it is
still a rare sight that a friend / family member goes vagabonding especially
when you are from south east asia. It does not happen often thou nowadays it is
more easily accepted.
The first difference I notice was the
expectation of a wild Indiana Jones story. If you have traveled the world you
are expected to come back with a tale or two. Eventually in any meet up or
get-together the question will pop up sooner or later.
“Tell us what is the ……( Insert Imagination
here )….. most/crazy/memorable/horrible ……… thing that you had come across
while traveling ??”
The questions comes in different forms and
times. Even after a year being back from my travels I still get them. Even if
you don’t speak of your vagabonding adventure sooner or later the question will
pop up. It’s a natural conversation filler. However … only a piece at a time …
that is what I learned after a while. No matter how exiting my adventure was to
myself their attention span could only last a story or two. So I learned not to
join one story to another …. Live in asylum that your adventure is your own to
cherish and does not need to be advertised.
Work Work Work ….. Somehow it’s not that
important …
I used to think that work is an important
aspect of ones life. In a way I still do but coming back from a long travel
shed a light on the need for work. You will always need to work to sustain
oneself but where you choose to work and what you choose to do is entirely up
to you.
After backpacking and surviving on bare
minimum for so long, material things no longer has the same value. A cheap
watch will do the work of an expensive watch. It does not really matter I guess
as long as the job gets done. Surviving on bare minimum for a long time helps
change the way I look at things. If I can settle for a cheap watch that works
fine I won’t have to work twice as hard to buy the expensive ones.
Now I work to save up for the next travel
…… the next adventure became my expensive watch ….
Work for your own beliefs … and not others
….
Adjusting to the comfort known as
Routine
It’s amazing how much comfort one can get
from just knowing where he will sleep tonight and every other night for the
next dunnu how many months. If there is anything I don’t miss after coming back
from my trip … it’s the routine in simple things. Where to get my food, where
to sleep, where to get laundry done and how the transport works
Thou the problem about routine is that time
is optimized …. Suddenly time is slowly being packed up again with work with
chores, duty and hobbies and things that you wanna try …. Eventually I ended up
in the same place again …. Not enough time to do everything. Every once a while
I take a pause to remember the time on the road …. Never do we have enough time
to see the world ( its huge ) but we learn to accept and focus on the thing
that is here and now …. Appreciate Rome when in Rome … do not think of places
that you could have visit by cutting short the time in Rome.
Appreciation of anything takes time …
Having a Social Life again ….
This is a big one I guess. Being alone for
6 months means no responsibility …. With the knowledge that the mass majority
of the people that you meet will never see you again makes you more true to
oneself. I so appreciate the ability to not bother about taking care of another
person’s dignity or as we call it here in Singapore/Malaysia Face/Muka/. The
Asian community is very vain in nature and offending someone within a circle
will definitely come back to haunt you unless you are immune in some way.
While I do slowly integrate back into the
culture of Social manners …. I also reduce my level of tolerance to accept
peoples shit …. Life is too short to please everyone …
That said what I missed the most while
traveling was companion of good friends who never judges and are able to share
a part of your history …. Hence the easiest part of being home is having
friends that you already know and don’t need to introduce yourself over and
over again.
When that Travel Itch Starts again
One day Some Day … it will come ….
To those who have done a long term travel beware this is a disease that is incurable an insatiable. For those who have tasted it …. It can never be forgotten …. Even short term travel have the same effect, a 3 days holiday today and after sometimes the crave for another holiday will follow. Long term travel is no different just a little harder to fulfill financially.
For me it had come pretty soon. Maybe
because it took me nearly a year to write the full cycle of the 6 month travel
in a year …. (I am not that focus … tend to forget to write) … but even as I am
typing the final entry of my six months travel I am already planning another
sabbatical.
To infinity and beyond
Application for sabbatical to my company
has been done and route charting is already in progress …. So I guess this blog
is going to be well fed for another couple of years with my stories.
Hope to those who have been following has
enjoyed this humble Malaysian Backpacker … An Asian perspective on Long Term
Travel
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