Travelling, Tripping, Backpacking..... Living!
The one thing, of all the things in my life, about which I'm certain, undoubting, convinced, is the truth in H.C.Andersen's saying: "To travel is to live."
Bruce Chatwin hits the essence of my life in "Anatomy of Restlessness", with his claims that humans are nomads, meant to wander, and never content while staying in one place. And, while making a case for all of human-kind seems a bit extreme, this is the truth I feel in my blood. Flowing through my body. The need for change, for movement, for continuous new environments.
My enlightening to this fact, this essence of my life came relatively late, during my 6 month trip to South America. But from that point on, until further notice travelling is of prime importance. Planning when to go and where to go, how to go and why to go, are all a normal part of life for me. And although most of my plans will never be realized, it is the knowledge that I will definitely at some point go somewhere, that keeps me happy....
And it is the people I meet on my trips, and then meet again, that continuously remind me that nothing is more important than them.
I would really love to write something about how I consider travelling to be an escape from the social restrictions that apply in everyday life. From the expectations, and unwritten rules of a society that tie you down all the more in the milieu where you grow up.....
It is a welcome relief, a chance to meet people with no preconception of you, except that you are a stranger from another country, and therefore by definition are interesting until proven otherwise. What a relief.
However, inspiration seems to have left me and I will leave this subject for a possible return at another time.....