As a child with a father who worked in the airline industry I was confronted with the realities and experiences of travel from a very young age. Every year there was atleast one family holiday to an exotic destination, airfare courtesy of the airline my father worked for. There were trips to Malta, Barbados, Australia and a number of states in the U.S.. Travel was an important part of my life growing up and created some of my fondest childhood memories.
As well as family holidays I would occasionally accompany my father on overnight trips to europe, staying in lavish hotels and exploring new cities in a whirwind, disorientating 24 hours. It was a real privilege, especially considering the exorbitant cost of airtravel in the 90s, before low-cost airlines appeared on the scene.
A gap year became gap years
It was of little surprise to my parents when I decided to spend a year travelling the world after leaving school, despite being a rather unconventional and concerning path for their child to take at that time - gap years didn’t really take off until we entered the new millenium. I got hold of an Australian Working Holiday Visa and spent a year or so ‘down under’ finding my travelling feet and learning how to be a confident, independent, less gullible individual.
Australia soon lost its challenge for me once I’d found my stride and heard stories of ever more exotic lands from other travellers. I sought a rougher more contrasting experience by travelling to South East Asia and my gap year turned into gap years. I got caught up in gem scams in Bangkok, currency swindling in Cuba, shot AK47s in Cambodia – all the adventure that I was so eagerly seeking out and that became so cliche in recent years. This vagabonding period of my life culminated in a visit to Peru and Bolivia by which time I’d continually stepped further and further out of my comfort zone, and had been rewarded with a great deal of personal satisfaction.
Long distance relationship leads to travel
University followed and the travelling continued between semesters with trips to Mexico, Belize and Guatemala and return trips to Malaysia and Australia. After graduation a 4-year trans-atlantic relationship that began at university continued and so did the travelling, albeit confined to a single route for much of the time.
When the back and forth travel between London and Washignton D.C. became too much we both decided to embark on a round-the-world trip taking in the U.S., Cook Islands, New Zealand, Indonesia ending in Malaysia. How the travelling experience had changed with WiFi, Facebook, digital cameras and affordable laptops and smart phones for all.
Throughout my travels particular places have left less of an impression than the larger regions of the world and the people I’ve been with or without. Cultures and environments that encompass certain parts of the world have had huge affects on my development, and it’s the experiences and learnings that I cherish most. South East Asia, the Andes, New Zealand and Australia all have a special place in my heart. Where you are in those regions is less important than the fact that you are there at all, somewhere in a foreign land, either alone or with others.
