In the Air!

April 13.

Thirty hours was a long time to be in transit.

On the AKL-BKK leg, I created a video of some of the wonderful people I had met along the way these past 15 months. It had something I started compiling together in January. I know I’m missing a lot of people. The simple project passed the time and made me happy.

In BKK, I half considered leaving the airport. Thailand was my haven! The Singhas and Thai food on the Thai Airways flight had me reminisce of all the great times. Songkran – the Thai New Year – was the next few days and promised water-fight fun. Instead, I hung out at Starbucks for the three hour layover.

I was on the two-story plane (Airbus A380?) for the Bangkok-Frankfurt flight. I was confused when my ticket said 78G and the rows ended at 72, until I saw the stairs. I had a row of four seats to myself, which was great. It was almost flatbed in economy! I tried watching some new-release movies that were recommended but found them all stressful to watch. I could handle watching the few lighthearted episodes of Big Bang Theory. Otherwise, I was in Ultra Music therapy mode and tried to sleep.

I really enjoyed landing in Amsterdam’s Schipol and knowing where I was going. The North Sea air was brisk and the sun was shining. The train transit to the Hague was familiar from last summer. Dan, one of my favorite travellers/friends from this trip (who doesn’t believe in hugs), was so excited about my arrival and gave me TWO HUGS! :D I was happy to be back. <3

The Fifteenth Month!

It’s become a lifestyle, traveling. When I meet new people, I speak prospectively about my travels and try to deflect that I’ve been abroad for over a year. It just sounds absurd.

For my 15th month, I finished up working at the hostel in Wanganui. The first three weeks comprised of the “living and working abroad” experience I had wanted. When the day finally came, I caught the first ride out of town, as I normally did this time of year at the end of an accounting busy season.

 

In my first week of freedom after working seven days a week for two months, I hung out in Wellington, flew to Queenstown, hitch-hiked to Glenorchy, climbed Mount Alfred, and have been recovering in Queenstown ever since. I certainly appreciate being able to walk normally now that I temporarily can’t haha.

 

If anything’s been notable this month, it’s been the affliction of indecision. In the final weeks at the hostel, I didn’t know what I wanted to do with my 2014. I agonized about it. Where do I go when I can go anywhere? How can I not know what I want?! It took about three weeks to figure out what I wanted for 2014: Spain (practice Spanish!), Croatia (Ultra Music Festival!), Montenegro/Albania/Greece (summer in the Mediterranean!) Summer would be warming up in Southern Spain in May so what did I want to do for April?

 

I decided to stay in New Zealand for an additional six weeks, after starting to blog about my initial journey around the country and feeling inspired by the compact availability of glaciers, rainforests, rugged coastlines and alpine vistas. But now that I’m back on the picturesque South Island, I am feeling bored (and cold). The original sense of awe and novelty has worn off since January. Autumn is setting in. I don’t really want to be here anymore but I don’t know where I want instead.

We’ll see what happens!

Reflections

Reflecting on the past 14 months feels like a dream. A wondrous dream filled with amazing adventures and scenery, inspiring travelers and locals, newfound lifelong friends, and many moments of nirvana! How could it all be true/real/possible? But it must be, I have a blog dedicated to my journey! I feel like I’ve lived an entire lifetime. I have no regrets about quitting my job, boxing up my life, and going off exploring the world.

Before I begin travelling again in a week or so, I want to write about the emotions of it all. There have been so many! The worries, fears, loneliness, fatigue, challenges, but also the happiness, awe, triumphs, lessons, the marvelous sense of freedom. Not infrequently, I wonder if I have the traveler’s curse.

I’ll write too about this upcoming year: the remaining financial resources, how the travel style will be different from last year’s, the inspirations, and whatever else comes to mind.

When am I going home? I think by the end of this year. We’ll see what life brings!

If there’s any particular topics or questions, let me know. :)

The 14th Month!

The past month is the longest I’ve stayed still in over two years. It’s a bit strange, not being in a different place every week/end.

In late January, I accepted a hostel job in the north island of New Zealand. Paid with free private accommodation in a town where there’s not anything worthy to spend money on. That sounded like ideal conditions to save up travel funds but continue to meet fun, interesting people. Win-win! So, after 13 months of being on the road, I unpacked my backpack and had my own personal space. Life slowed down to routine and ordinary (read: boring). To occupy my extraneous free time, I took on a second job for a week before deciding the company was run by monkeys and quit.

I work seven days a week for about 30-35 hours, predominantly on the weekends, doing reception and cleaning. On the first night, concluding a 10-11 hour shift after a year of blissful unemployment, I poured myself a glass of wine and immediately thought, Well, this seems familiar… I resolved to save my bootleg vineyard red wine for “emergencies” only haha.

Since my hours are evenings from 6 p.m.-8:30 p.m. Monday through Friday and essentially 9:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, I have daytime on weekdays free, which is the opposite of my former job. It’s nice being able to enjoy sunlight in the summer! But there’s not much going on in town so I bounce between the hostel, the library (Wifi, computers, books!), and the grocery store. There is the occasional volcanic-black-sand beach day but I don’t go into the water because I’m a wuss and it’s cold hahaha.

The positive and negative of working at a hostel is the constant flow of travellers. New stories, recounted adventures, shared dinners and drinks, all good! Often I want to leave with them hahaha. You’re going where? You’re doing what? That sounds so cool/fun! :D It’s a slight emotional drain though with the frequent goodbyes. It could be a good metaphor for life. People come and go, enjoy the time you have together. Don’t be sad it’s over, be happy it happened.

I had told the owner of the hostel, that I would stay for 2-3 months. After the usual three weeks of rest, I got itchy feet again and started to plan my next moves. Last year, I had a sort-of plan. This year, even less so, other than Where is summer and the music festivals? Ultra Europe in Croatia mid-July. A European summer sounds nice… I should learn French in France or Spanish in Spain… Right now the plan is forming to be fly to southern Spain in May (two months in Malaga and Barcelona?) then Croatia and the rest of the Balkans starting in July. We’ll see how it goes. :)

Until then, this thing called “work.”