Wednesday, November 21, 2012

Here there and everywhere




Not so long ago I used lie awake in the darkness of the night and the silence of my room and imagine what life was like in countries far away. I tried to picture bustling streets, colourful markets and ancient buildings. In my mind I tasted exotic foods and listened to incomprehensible languages. The wonders of the world would spread out before me. I went here there and everywhere, but only in my mind.

     Until then I’d had the usual package holidays in cheap sun drenched resorts a couple of hours away along the coast of the Mediterranean. I remember once standing on a Spanish beach crammed full of sunburnt Brits and staring across the sea where I could just make out the coast of Africa. One day I thought; one day.

      Then a few years ago I decided to do something about it. I changed my way of life. I said goodbye to flashy cars, and realised I could be just as happy in a modest apartment as in a stately pile. I became an expert in seeking out the cheapest of this and the most economical of that. I made sure that I could afford to seek out the lands of my dreams, and I have. From Peru and Bolivia, to Egypt and the Middle East, to Cambodia, Nepal and beyond.

      Tomorrow I leave once again. I’m returning to India, a country I’ve visited several times before and fell in love with the first time I stepped off a plane there. I became instantly enchanted. This time I’m heading to the south and I’ll be traveling by train, plane, boat and bus. And when I've finished my journey I’ll come home again and try to imagine all the places I still haven’t seen. Places where I need to go.

5 comments:

  1. I used to have this dream of buying an old VW Camper van and just travelling all over the world.
    I had everything planned on what we would do and how we could work our way through most of it to save cash...sigh, it was only a day-dream though!

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  2. i LOVE that you made changes in your life to accomplish what really mattered to you Keith!

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  3. Hope you are having an amazing vacation! How smart to make changes to be able to afford what's important in your life!

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  4. You must be very disciplined to stick with your austerity plan, but it certainly sounds like it is paying off. I hope you have a wonderful trip to India!

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