Reflections on My Year Away

As I fly back to Sydney my mind travels back to April 2010, when I started this journey….

I had felt a little stressed as my friend Andrew drove me to the airport.  I felt unsure about what lay ahead and my decision to travel solo.  Was I completely crazy to have thought of travelling for so long?  Did I have everything I needed in my backpack?  Would I feel lonely?

As I travel home to my friend Steven who will be at the airport to pick me up, I feel elated, excited and joyful.  It has been an amazing year.  Better than I had expected.  While there were many things that might have gone wrong - riots I might have been caught up in, luggage that might have gone missing, stuff that might have got stolen, flights I might have missed…I have been incredibly fortunate.  Some of the countries I travelled through are now in turmoil.  Yet after travelling through what others might call risky destinations, I complete my time away with beautiful memories; of friendly locals, amazing travel companions, wonderful photographs and stories that will keep me and my friends entertained in my old age! 

When I look back on this year, I can say that I have truly accomplished my dream and been true to my goal:

A year spent stepping outside the established routine of my comfort zone to explore the realm of fresh possibilities along the road less travelled….

This year away has enriched my life with new friends from around the world, new experiences in places I had only dreamt of visiting previously, interactions with people from all walks of life, and a new found confidence in myself!  The world truly became my oyster.  I have re-discovered the free spirit in myself and when I look back I can say it was a year in which I truly lived life to the fullest.

I can now tick off my long-term goal of spending time on every continent before I turned 50.  With the exception of Antarctica where I only spent a few weeks, I have now spent at least 3 months travelling through the 6 other continents.  With the completion of this journey, I have visited more than 50 countries and taken more photographs than I care to think about!  I have spent time with countless locals who showed me there are wonderful people the world over and shattered any preconceptions I might have had.  

The highlights have included many challenges and activities I had never done before:

• Watching the sunrise at Angkor Wat - Cambodia
• Enjoying a mud bath - Vietnam
• Cruising the Mekong River in a long boat - Laos to Thailand
• Bamboo rafting in hill tribe territory – Thailand
• Eating crabs with my mom in Jaffna - Sri Lanka
• Four wheel driving in Dubai - UAE
• Trekking impenetrable jungles to interact with mountain gorillas – Uganda
• Photographing the Drakensberg mountains and visiting friends and family - South Africa
• Tracking hyenas and cheetahs - Namibia
• Hot air ballooning over the wildebeest migration in the Massai Mara – Kenya
• Camping in the Serengeti –Tanzania
• Dancing at the full moon party – Zanzibar
• Swimming in Lake Malawi at night - Malawi
• Walking with lions & a micro light flight over Victoria Falls – Zambia
• Interactive drumming - Zimbabwe
• Floating on the Dead Sea – Egypt
• Exploring Petra - Jordan,
• Enjoying a Turkish bath - Syria
• Hot air ballooning in Cappadocia – Turkey
• Re-connecting with my cousin & attending classical music concert – London
• Strolling the streets of the Falkland Islands
• Observing the penguin colonies - South Georgia,
• Touching the rocks of Antarctica
• Camping, Riding, Hiking the Torres del Paine – Chile
• Ice Climbing & a glacier walk in Videma Glacier – Argentina
• Reuniting with old friends in New Zealand AND
• Falling in Love Again – Sydney

Yes, that’s right…even as I complete this journey, and travel home in time to celebrate my birthday, a new journey awaits me in Sydney.  I fly home to my best friend Steven, who unbeknownst to me, became single just before I set off on my journey.  While I have known him as a friend for more than 6 years, I re-connected with him on a deeper level via emails and skype while travelling in Turkey, about 2 months ago!   

He was one of those friends who always kept in touch, supported and encouraged me in all my endeavours.  Over these past couple of months our friendship transitioned into a deep love for each other that was based on the foundation of mutual trust and respect, built on the 6 years of friendship that preceded it.

I hope our partnership will take us down a far more interesting path than I have ever travelled previously.  Our new journey together is completely unmapped for now but I know it will include foreign shores, exciting challenges and more unexplored territory. 

Many of us put off living our lives till we reach retirement, till we find that perfect person to live it with, till the weekend, till we win the lottery, till the kids leave home.  I want to share with you that the time to live your life is NOW!  When your start living your dream, everything else actually does fall into place.  The Universe never fails to deliver, when you go in search of your destiny.

Remember that the greatest risk of all, is a life of riskless living! 

I always wanted to share my life with a person who shared my passion for living.  I started this journey not just to discover places I had never explored previously, but also to discover myself and to rediscover love. 

It is amazing to think that my year of living life to the fullest will culminate in the beginning of a new dream.  The start of a new journey with a man who is not afraid to live an unconventional life.  A man who is not afraid to think outside the square and live life outside the rigid bounds that society and people incapable of lateral thinking impose on us… 

A man travels the world over in search of what he needs and returns home to find it.  ~George Moore

Epilogue: I would like to send out a very special thank you to all of you who made comments on my blog, wrote messages on my wall and sent me emails about my adventures and photographs.  Your emails, stories and photos from your lives at home were incredibly important to me and helped me stay connected to my life back home.  I thank you for keeping in touch, for your encouragement and support.  I truly appreciated it.

Thank you as well to all of you who listened to me as I planned this trip and then helped me through the months and the years of upheaval leading up to this journey.  Thank you to my managers who gave me a year off to rest and rejuvenate.  I feel inspired and ready to tackle whatever new challenges might await me at work, although the thought of returning to a day job is daunting! 

Thank you to Shane Wallbank, from Flight Centre, who helped me plan the year and booked all my flights – you did an amazing job.  It has been an incredible journey with absolutely no hiccups! 

Thank you to all the travellers, tour guides and friends and family, I met or re-connected with along the way.  The instant connections one makes with perfect strangers who then become life long friends is one of the most enjoyable fruits of travel.  The travellers I met were brave, courageous people who were adaptable and flexible enough to travel rough in places very different to the places they called home.  We helped each other through many sticky situations and always shared a laugh.  I thank you for your friendship and look forward to the reunions, some of which are already planned!

And so sadly, I think it is time to close this blog.  Please do send me an email if you have any comments on my blog, questions on my journey, or anything to share .  I would love to hear from you: travelbug62@gmail.com

I will keep you informed if I do start up a new blog.  I still have a month at home before I start work, but I think I might take a break from blogging to truly rest, have a holiday(!) and enjoy the start of my new journey! 

Steven Covey wrote that it was important to value a child for his/her own uniqueness rather than base it on motives that stem from internal sources of security based on our children's ‘acceptable’ behaviour.

I would like to dedicate this year to my beautiful mom, who always kept in touch in spirit, via emails and skype and has always supported me in my mad schemes and valued my uniqueness! 

– Thank you. 

Re-Union in Wellington!

We arrive in Wellington to find Radhi at the arrivals gate as we walk off the plane.  More warm hugs and greetings are passed around the 3 friends, reunited after a very long time.  We are all delighted to see each other and the sound of our laughter echoes around the arrivals hall. 

It has been a very long time since we have all been on the same continent.  It might possibly even be more than 20 years ago, back when we were all still working in Sri Lanka.  We remember our friend Sureshnie, who still lives back in Sri Lanka and wish she were here as well.

Radhi drives us home to freshen up and meet her parents who also migrated to New Zealand and now live with her.   I knew her parents well, in the ‘good old days’ when I worked at IIMI and visited them in their home in Kandy for great meals and a ‘weekend home-stay’.

We have a wonderful reunion with her parents who are incredibly warm and welcoming.  Her mom has cooked us a great Sri Lankan meal of rice and curry and hints of more Sri Lankan delights she has in store.  We tuck in to a great feed before Radhi takes us on a drive to show off the city she has called home for more than twenty years. 

Sush has come here on a mission.  She wants to visit Wellington’s famous museum, TePapa.  Unfortunately, I am a little ‘museumed’ out and Radhi just wants to chat – not unusual for her.   We end up at the museum but the two of us just breeze through, more interested in chatting and catching up than in browsing.  Sush gives up in disgust and threatens to visit Radhi again so she can see TePapa in peace:)! 

After a hour of pretending to be interested in the exhibits of TePapa, we leave to find a cafe overlooking the waterfront and sip coffee shakes while we catch up on Radhi’s life and share news of our own personal journeys.  Radhi’s son is now in Uni but unfortunately out of town.  He is in Las Vegas, attending the finals of a Barbershop Competition!  His college won the national finals and he has gone overseas to represent his country.  We are sorry to miss Rueben but overjoyed to hear of his success.

We fit in bush walks, coastal walks, road trips, chats, visits to Radhi’s friends & movies in  between meal times.  Food is a big part of Sri Lankan culture and Radhi’s mom makes us many delicious meals that I would never have the patience to make from scratch in Australia.  We tuck into thosai, hoppers, string hoppers, pittu, chapati, and of course our staple of rice and curry!  I was hoping to lost some weight before I went back home but that diet might have to be shelved for a few more days.  I can’t possible turn down this feast!

Sush leaves a few days before I do and I take everyone out for a Thai meal in the city before we say goodbye to her.  Radhi takes us up to a wonderful lookout and we look down on the night lights of Wellington.  Sadly, the wind is blowing a gale, so we rush back to the warmth of our car.  Wellington is a beautiful city but a little too windy for me.

Re-connecting with old friends has been a wonderful way to end this time away from home. I am truly thankful to my two dear friends and their wonderful families, to the warm welcome and the wonderful hospitality extended to me.   Now it is time to re-connect with the friends and family I have left behind in Sydney.  I am excited to be flying back home and look forward to the wonderful reunions and hugs that await me in Sydney. 

Your friends will know you better in the first minute you meet than your acquaintances will know you in a thousand years. 

~ Richard Bach

Greetings from Auckland

It has been more than 12 years since I last saw Sushani in Sri Lanka.  We were on our way to Australia (in 1998) and had stopped off in Colombo for a holiday.  We had a few reunions both at my parents house and at the house of another mutual friend (Sureshnie) who still lives in Sri Lanka. 

Sush and I both worked at the International Irrigation Management Institute in Kandy, which is how we met.  Sush, moved back to Colombo, shortly after I started working there, but she was friends with the group of people I hung out with at IIMI and so we got to know each other over time.  I moved into her room in the house I shared with Sureshnie and Sush would visit occasionally at the weekends for reunions with her friends.  We have kept in touch over the years via the internet and she followed my journey this year and invited me to visit her in Auckland, on my way home to Sydney.

As I walk into the visitors lounge, I wonder whether I will recognise her after all these years, but she hasn’t changed a bit!  She comes to pick me up at the airport with her son in the early hours of Tuesday morning and we greet each other warmly. 

Auckland had been experiencing a bit of severe weather in the lead up to my visit but as promised, I have brought the sunshine with me.  After a nice cup of coffee and brekkie, we settle down for a chat and reminisce about the years since we last caught up.  Sush has 2 grown up children now who I meet for the first time.  Her mom is also visiting her and her brother drops by to say hello.  I am reminded of my own mom and my Sri Lankan culture as they all extend a warm welcome and I get more than just a taste of true Sri Lankan hospitality.  

We spend 3 wonderful days together.  We drive around Auckland and visit its beautiful parks, look outs and museums.  I enjoy great food from buriyani and curries to roti and waffles!  We go on long walks and sit under the trees for a bit of time out, laughter, chats and extended picnic lunches packed with great care. 

I am lucky enough to have 3 beautiful days of warm sunshine and we spend most of our time outdoors.  I enjoy getting to know Sush’s children, now grown up and on the brink of starting their own lives.  Anik, her daughter is going to Uni and we sit around the table discussing everything from ‘personality types’ to the latest movies we have seen. 

On my last day we go on a road trip to Thames.  It is a pretty town with cute shops and book stores to browse and we picnic by the waterside for lunch.   

I am at the tail end of my trip and catching up with friends and spending a few lazy days together is just what I need.  My three days draws to an end and I say goodbye and thank you to my wonderful hosts by throwing them a mini BBQ in true Aussie fashion.  At the last minute we find out we are out of gas and decide to cook the food indoors!  We sit around the dining table for hours chatting, eating and laughing.  I discover that Ajith (Sush’s brother), went to school around the same time as my cousins and in true Sri Lankan fashion, discover we have more mutual friends than do Sush and I who have been friends for years!   

The next morning, Sush and I get on a flight to Wellington.  We are off to spend time with Radhini, another very dear mutual friend of ours from our days at IIMI.

“What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.”  Oliver Wendell Holmes