I always say 'I love travelling!' in conversation and listen to every detail of someone else's adventures like that of a five year old at bedtime, squeezing time for another story or little bit of detail with such enthusiasm that you'd actually think I'd never been anywhere but the UK ('What do you mean, 'how did the plane smell'...?') but I was thinking about it....I haven't really. Not like REALLY travelled. I want to, but I always rationalise life and decide that the sensible option is the best option, which is the 'not throwing caution to the wind, spending all my savings and running off to another country' option.
I mean, I have travelled to places - I've been to Australia and travelled there for 7 weeks, Morocco twice (for work but I made the most of it), inter-railed across Eastern Europe for a few months after Uni, visited Paris (tick), basically been all over France with family holidays- oh yeh, had a failed girls' holiday in Spain (it's ok, we decided never again and we're all still friends now) and a school trip to Brussels. Ah sorry, and the last trip away was to Bruges (I loved it. Fucking Bruges.) But, I don't feel like I've really put myself in any sort of situation with...vulnerability, for want of a better word. There were scary times in Eastern Europe to be fair, but the fear of being robbed on a 13 hour train journey through Poland which felt like being in the film 'Severance', complete with a train track through a forest, armed police and a TV crew from a Polish news channel zooming in on your slightly overwhelmed (read 'petrified') face isn't really what I'm aiming for.
I'm talking about completely different landscapes, where the skies are so big you feel overwhelmed and insignificant; where the colours and shapes in front of you are so different that you have to stare so hard to completely take them in...the noise and the traffic and the animals and the life are so contrasting to your reality. Somewhere that the customs and practices change the way you look at a culture, so far from the limited knowledge you have before going. For the food to taste similar, but for some reason you can't quite put your finger on, ten times fresher and better or, even greater, completely like something from a different world, alien to you. Languages that confuse you because there is NOTHING you can compare English, French, Spanish or German to so you are reliant on gestures, pointing and smiles. Soaking up the history, the culture and the experiences of something old and established but new to you. Feeling your heart pump from elation, fear, wonder and happiness...
I definitely need to travel more.
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I mean, I have travelled to places - I've been to Australia and travelled there for 7 weeks, Morocco twice (for work but I made the most of it), inter-railed across Eastern Europe for a few months after Uni, visited Paris (tick), basically been all over France with family holidays- oh yeh, had a failed girls' holiday in Spain (it's ok, we decided never again and we're all still friends now) and a school trip to Brussels. Ah sorry, and the last trip away was to Bruges (I loved it. Fucking Bruges.) But, I don't feel like I've really put myself in any sort of situation with...vulnerability, for want of a better word. There were scary times in Eastern Europe to be fair, but the fear of being robbed on a 13 hour train journey through Poland which felt like being in the film 'Severance', complete with a train track through a forest, armed police and a TV crew from a Polish news channel zooming in on your slightly overwhelmed (read 'petrified') face isn't really what I'm aiming for.
I'm talking about completely different landscapes, where the skies are so big you feel overwhelmed and insignificant; where the colours and shapes in front of you are so different that you have to stare so hard to completely take them in...the noise and the traffic and the animals and the life are so contrasting to your reality. Somewhere that the customs and practices change the way you look at a culture, so far from the limited knowledge you have before going. For the food to taste similar, but for some reason you can't quite put your finger on, ten times fresher and better or, even greater, completely like something from a different world, alien to you. Languages that confuse you because there is NOTHING you can compare English, French, Spanish or German to so you are reliant on gestures, pointing and smiles. Soaking up the history, the culture and the experiences of something old and established but new to you. Feeling your heart pump from elation, fear, wonder and happiness...
I definitely need to travel more.
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