Again doing a bit of "fast travel". I call fast travel the travel where you switch "homes" every few days. I call it "living" in a place when you do 3 washing machines in the same place. Sooo I've now been in indonesia for 1 month, and I've done likee 4 washing machines, but always in different places, so thats still considered "fast travel".
I still believe that traveling is the best thing I can be doing. Yet again i find my self struggling (once again - my main struggle) with the balance of living for the now vs living for the later.
When I am here I am thinking I should be back home where I can focus on work, and on making money again. But I know that 3 or 4 days after getting back, I will wish I would've stayed longer.
Wherever you travel, the classic traveller questions everyone asks each other when meeting are "where are you from?" and "how long have are you traveling for?". I am not even sure when I started traveling this time. I started this year living in Lisbon. I had rented a flat from October "indefinitely", but ended up leaving that lovely apartment the 1st of April. I went back home, and was there a while. I did a cheeky trip to Jordan for 10 days (which was epic and I super recommend everyone to visit). I did a 5 day trip to Amsterdam to visit old friends where we got super f*cked up. There is one particular messy story from that trip I still need to write about (that I won't be sharing here because it was brutal hehehe).
I then left to go to Mauritania on the 8th of June. This was a family trip. My brother with my mum had driven down his 4x4 from Spain through Morocco. My father and I stayed 10 more days at home because we were doing some work (starting that new business which we finally got off the ground - and the one I feel guilty for not being home now to be working on). We then flew and met them in Dahkla.
Dahkla is a kitesurfing town in Western Sahara (which it is sometimes categorised as a country, and other times it is just part of Morocco). We then joined a guide on another 4x4 and went into Mauritania. We spent 10 days (or 9, im not quite sure) driving through the desert. Literally through the desert, wild camping in tents and cooking with a gas stove. We only stopped in "hotels" 3 nights, only 1 night with aircon. On average it was 43 degrees. The hottest was 46. We were melting. One would think "it gets cold at night in the desert, there are big temperature changes"... sooo yes, at night it went down to 38 degrees... Soo yeah whoever said that hadn't gone into the Sahara or was just full of crap. Anyways, epic trip.
After those 10 days of roasting and getting stuck in the sand my parents flew back and I stayed in Dakla once again with my brother. We did a 2 days of kitesurfing and chilling by the beach (in a lovely hotel with aircon and a big pool). Then we headed up through Marocco back to spain. We stopped for a few nights in a surfers town called Imsouane. Many say Taghazout is the "surfer town" of southern Morocco. Those people are wrong. Taghazout is where all the surf hostels are and where the tourists stay. They rent boards and have surf schools, but when they actually go surfing they take a van to Imsouane. Thats where its really at. They have the second longest wave in Africa, and another beach which is where we slept. Again we slept inside the the 4x4. We stayed there for a few days and then headed back to Spain. The whole trip including Mauritania, Western Sahara and Morocco lasted 23-24 days.
I was at home for another 2 weeks and left "for the long trip". I left the 14th of July heading to Athens first. I am now a "travel coordinator" for a company called Huakai, which means I make sure everything runs smoothly. This summer I did 3 Huakai trips and Greece was the first. We did a sailing trip from Athens to Mykonos. The problem was, there was a shit load more wind than there normally was, sooo we had to modify the whole "plan" that they had made for me. It also meant rather than sailing from west to east in a direct line doing a few hours of sailing each day we had to sail south east and then north east doing a V shape itinerary with a lot more sailing. This trip was also epic, but exhausting. There was lots of waves and we were in the sun most of the day. But that wasn't the exhausting part... We basically filled the boat with booze and every night we would get smashed on beers rum and tequila. It was beautiful. We stopped in 5 islands, I don't remember all the names, but Antiparos and Paros were my favourites. The worst was Mykonos. Fuck Mykonos... It's a place for those who have lots of money go to flex. I mean... maybe saying fuck Mykonos is a bit too strong. It is still beautiful, but it is overcrowded anddddd likeeeeee, well, its for shopping. If you want the real Greek culture, the deserted virgin beaches with cristal waters thennnnn its not the place to be. I am not a consumer of Gucci or Prada sooo it doesn't attract me so much. Although we had an epic time at one of the night clubs. But that was more beacuse of the people we were with.
I left Greece and headed to Italy. I went back to my beloved uni city of Bologna, were I was welcomed by old friends and quickly immerced myself in the whole aura of the Italian culture. I remembered how much I love Italy. It's not just the food, the history or the people. It's a blend of it. The coffees, long lunches, dinners with lots of wine, strolling around purposelessly, sitting in the parks just enjoying the vibes... It is a culture based around enjoyment, recreation and spending quality time with loved ones. I was only there for 4 days and it was enough to fall in love with the city all over again. I was ordering 2 dishes of pasta for every meal because it was just so damned good. I could write a whole book just about Bologna, but lets keep it going.
My next destination was Thailand where my second Huakai group awaited me. My flights were paid by Huakai, so they got me a stupid layover that I knew was going to miss. I had only 1h30 to pick up my luggages, get a visa into Saudia Arabia, check in and hop on to the next flight. I knew from the start it was a lost cause and told them, but they insisted. Said and done. My plane left Milan 2h late, meaning I was taking off having already lost my layover. After arguing with Huakai for almost 1h at 2-3am at Riyadh Airport they got me a flight for the next day and a hotel. I got to my hotel at almost 4am. The next day I spent wondering around the capital... 26h in Saudi Arabia was enough to realice I don't want to go there anymore (at least for a good 10 years or so until they build "the line" city--- but thats all up in the air). It was all artificial high sky-scrappers and big malls like in Dubai, but without the freedom that Dubai is slowly allowing.
After almost 40 hours of travel, I made it to Bangkok.
I had done Thailand with one of my best friends when I was 18 and finished school, sooo if I am being honest I wasn't looking forward to this trip so much... Amongst the traveller circles, everyone knows that Thailand has now been westernised and is overcrowded with english guys wearing football t-shirts getting blind drunk Magaluf style... However, these 14/15 days in Thailand were incredible. I must addmittt that even though Huakai are sometimes assholes, the itineraries they plan are incredible. Also, you can be unlucky and get a bad apple in the group that makes it all a drag, orrrr you can get really good people. In this trip I was extremely lucky. I was taking 14 travellers (the biggest group I'd done - Jordan was 6 and Greece 8) and they were all a delight. I had soooo much fun with them. After just a few hours I felt comfortable with them. After a few days we were all friends. By the time we left I felt like we were all a big family. I won't get into detail of where we went and what we saw, buttttt I did get to go to the Angthong park which I hadn't been able to see on my last trip anddddd we also spent more time in Koh Tao - enough for me to get my advanced open water diver license. We also did the Jungle party and Full moon party, which I didn't think i'd ever do again... soo that was all amazing. I loved these days and it was because of the group I got. Not to say that the other groups weren't good, just to say that these people ... well they took a bit of my heart with them.
After came Indonesia. I had 3 days off before i met my next (and last) Huakai group, which I spent in Jakarta in a 5 star hotel (paid by them) basically sleeping and not doing anything except resting and mentally prepairing for the next trip. The Thai trip had taken it all out of me. From waking up at 6:30 am to be leaving at 7 to spend the whole day out doing activities, trecking with elephants and then going out partying till 2am to then wake up early the next day.. Part of the greatness was how packed the whole thing was. I was dead, but happy dead. Soooo the only thing I saw of Jakarta was my room on the 14th and the room service guys.
My next group arrived and again we went on full blast mode... Firstly parting in Jakarta before taking a plane and then waking up 2 days in a row at 12:30am and 1am to start trekking a volcano at 3 am and 2 am (2 different volcanos). Then temples and temples and hours and hours in minivans going through the islands. Indonesia was incredible. This group was also super cool, but usually I did the 25-35 groups and this time they gave me the 35-45 group... Sooo I was the youngest by far, but it was still awesome. We had one girl that was batshit crazy which made it frightening at first, but once I learned to "manage" her temper, it was actually quite a laugh. These groups helped me develop my people skills even further. I now know how to defuse any type of tension being polite without losing my shit. The trick with these sort of people is to treat them as if they were 9 year olds. After 10 days with them, again doing lotssss of activities, 10023432 hours of travel, sun, alcohol, hiking, visiting temples, switching hotels, going into boats, jumping into vans, talking to guides and so on... I fell ill. My body couldn't hack it anymore. I hadn't been ill in at least 1.5 years. I don't even remember the last time I was sick... soo that was weird. But no worries because I was healthy again for the goodbye of this last group. Andddd after one more boozy night, I woke up, said bye to these travellers and went back to Lombok. Finally alone.
Alone and able to travel and do shit my way. I had 16 days alone to travel the parts we missed of indonesia before I meeting up with my 3 best friends in the world in Tokyo for another 15 days of adventure, travel and alcohol. These "free" days I took it slowl. I revisited some of the places i'd seen with the group and didn't have enough time to explore/enjoy enough. I also met up with an old friend from uni that I hadn't seen in 6 years or so. I went to the Gili islands and tried some funky typical thing they do there for the very first time in my life. If she wouldn't of been there to help me, I think i would have died in terror. I was one of the most intense things i've ever done. Don't take part in this activity unless you are very happy and really want to try meeting with the gods and see how the world spins around. And 100% have someone there with you who is sober to babysit you. If you still don't know what im talking about, google the Gili islands.
I am now in Bali, 2 days away from my trip to Japan... anddddd well... Here comes the part where I "resolve" my inner dilemas by writing it out. I am not sure when I started traveling this year. Like I said before, when they ask me "how long have you been traveling for" I start counting it from Mauritania... the 8th of June... Butttt I did go home for 2 weeks before I set off again. I alsoooo don't really have a "home". When I say home I mean where my parents live. Also I was "out of my home" since October the year before living in Lisbon...
On one hand I feel guilty because I am not "building" or "progressing" in my "career" or building my "financial future". But then on the other hand, I am having the best fucking time ever. Never again will I be 27, and be able to do all these trips. I will still be able to visit the countries yes, but it won't be the same. Not only because they are all being transformed (orrr destroyed) to accommodate for the white people commodities... Loosing their traditions and culture so we can have pizza and fancy rooms with aircon... That's a big part of it yes, but the main dilema is that I won't be the same. I won't be "young". And yes, now we can be young at 40. It's not that. It's that at 40 I won't be staying in hostels, meeting randomers to go out on random adventures. Renting motorbikes, doing dangerous hikes, going on all nighters and hikking a mountain in the morning...
If travel is the most important thing in my life then, why do I feel guilty about doing it?
Maybe a part of it is also when I get back home and they (they the normal people with normal jobs) ask me "so what are you doing now?" I won't have a clear answer? That im kind of traveling but also not?
I have met many travellers that are younger, and I think, oh shit--- that time has passed, I can't do that now. But i've also met travelers that are older. Much much older (like 35! jeje lol) who are also staying at hostels, who have gone to Australia in a camper vans hipping it around with no purpose. And... that seems okay too.
Another laugh we were having with some traveler here in Bali a few days ago was saying "what is real traveling". Is it staying in shitty guest houses paying 3 euros per night and eating in the local places for 1.5 euros? Never getting any tours that are planned, instead going to the same places by yourself with a rented motorbike and so on... It sounded ridiculous, but it helped that she ridiculed it that way. That the only way for "real travel" was to not spend any money and behave like the locals wit a budget of 5 euros per day... When I meet the people who do that, it is them who I admire the most, because I... I couldn't do that. Maybe for a few days, butttt I don't. I like staying in a hostel with aircon, with a pool, where there are other travellers, and beers and fun.
I guess my inner conflict is caused because at 35 i'd like to be "at some other point" in my life. Probably/hopefully married, maybe with a kid on the way. That cuts my time to be hipping around Australia/Sri-Lanka/India. That puts a whole lot of pressure on me.
I guess I have to ask myself why am I obsessed with this timeline? Of being married at around 30/32 and having kids at around 35. Maybe from my parents? Because that's what they did, and they killed it. Because they are my main role models who I admire and want to imitate. Buttttt then again, my life is completely different to theirs.
Sooo would it be so wrong if I stayed traveling until Christmas? or Jan or Feb? Well, no... Buttttt, then my new business wouldn't get going either. Im not running out of money yet, I still have a nice safety cushion... But I don't want to go under a certain amount.
I still have Japan coming, and then Laos & Cambodia. That will bring me more or less till half October I guess.
I also don't have to decide now...
I didn't tell you my travels of this year to show off... I guess I was trying to justify to myself that this year has already been quite a trip. I've been out "long enough". Out enough? what does that even mean?
That even if I didn't travel like a hippy doing things "the local way" all the time, I still am a real traveler. Why is that title so important to me? I don't know, but it is. Also maybe Im telling you so that I can accept that this year I didn't build my future because I enjoyed the present.
The next few days in Japan with my bros will be incredible, and Laos & Cambodia after that too. I can't wait. But I also can't wait to be back home and get to work.
PS: I wrote this before Japan, but I've already gone and I am now in Laos. I bought my ticket home for the 11th of Oct. That would mean my trip has been just over 4 months (without counting the 2 weeks I went home after Africa). I am happy with that. I was relived when I bought the ticket home... On the other hand, Laos is turned out to be cooler than I thought, meaning I will have less time to do Cambodia. I am now in Vientiane and in 2 days I'll be leaving to do a 4 day motorcycle loop through the mountains. Yes, awesome. I know.
Until next time my beloved readers.
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