"Why, I'd like nothing better than to achieve some bold adventure, worthy of our trip" - Aristophanes
Being a 20 something is quite possibly the most awkward stage of all. Here I sit, feeling low because I want excitement and adventure and fear I am not getting enough. I have this horrible silent arrogance that I've seen some of the most beautiful places, I've met some of the most wonderful people and I've had some of the most unforgettable moments... what now?
I have absolutely no right to declare that I have seen it
all, I definitely haven't. I know that there is so much more of the world to
see, I have a map and everything. Yet here I am, heading back to a full time
and all consuming job feeling that part of me just wants to run away on another
adventure. Now, don't get me wrong I really love what I do, I love it to the
point where I can see that talking about how much I love it annoys those around
me but I just don't care. It's just, there's something missing in my little
bubble of a world and I am starting to think that that 'something' is travel.
Sounds ridiculous doesn't it?
Let me explain, before I went on my first 'big adventure'
travelling around the west coast of America I had felt bogged down, stuck in a
rut with a qualification in my hand and no idea what I wanted to do with it.
Booking a last minute flight and just flying out of the UK knowing I wasn't
back for 3 months was the most liberating thing in the world. When I found myself
in a similar rut almost exactly a year later I decided to apply for a summer
teaching job in Italy. I packed my bags, left my job, left my tiny little 1 bed
flat and once again headed out alone into the unknown world of adventure.
To cut a long story short, though initially planning to be
in Italy for 3 months I returned to the UK almost 2 years later. I had an offer
from one of my oldest friends to crash on her floor for a few weeks in Brighton
whilst I 'got myself sorted' so, once again I packed my bag and left for
pastures new. Arriving in Brighton with just a backpack of clothes, a ukulele
and a laptop in my possession I started
to forage for a life down in the south of England.
After what felt like an eternity I finally landed a pretty
awesome job and found myself living in a pretty awesome house. It seems
completely ridiculous that, given this privilege which I fully appreciate far
too many people don't have I still felt like a part of me was missing. I
couldn't work out for the longest time what it was that was secretly getting me
down. For a while I thought perhaps I just wanted a boyfriend (I am a girl
after all and we are known for such obsessions).
5 months after my
initial move to Brighton I headed out once again for adventure, though just a
short one this time in the shape of 5 days in Barcelona. It was sitting with a
group of people who had been strangers just hours before that I realised the
buzz I get from travelling to new places, not just for the fantastic scenery
and the often precarious food (they
really don't understand why people are vegetarian in Europe!) but for the
people that you meet. It was then I realised that this is what I was missing,
this is why I felt like a part of me had wandered off somewhere. It was the rush of playing old games with a new twist, telling the same stories to a different audience and getting to know people in a way that only other travelers will ever understand. It was a
craving for meeting new and exciting people that you would never otherwise come
across, although, don't get me wrong; Brightonians are pretty awesome.
You see, travelling isn't just a 'look at all the places
I've seen' deal, at least not to me. It's more than that, it's the people you
meet, the stories you have that make you smile when it's raining outside. It's
the memories of the day when you went the wrong way when looking for the supermarket and end up
walking for an hour or the time you take a 'short-cut' to the beach and almost
get run over by fast moving vehicles because the pedestrian path has simply
disappeared mid step. Travelling isn't
just about the scenery and ticking off your itinerary. It's about those moments
in between, when you learn from strangers a little something about yourself.
It's the languages you hear as you walk down the street. The ridiculous smile you can't erase from your
face and the ever bubbling over feelings of excitement in your stomach as you
plan your next adventure. This is what I miss, this is what I need in my life
and this is most definitely what I hope I never stop craving.
"The traveler sees what he sees, the tourist sees what he has come to see" - Gilbert K. Chesterton
The photograph was taken by me in Bajardo Italy (July 2012)
