Celebrating One Full Year of Travel!
Sun, June 17, 2012 at 7:00 AM ;)
Wow, an entire year traveling! It seems surreal. We're now in Florence, Italy, thinking about the past 366 days (because of leap year) and wondering where the time went. Like a dream, details fade. Like a revelation, so many flashes of insight, discovery, and realization. Rowan is writing a Top 10 list of discoveries from our time in Australia and Asia. For now, though, on our one-year anniversary of travel, here are some thoughts:
We learned tourist destinations are boring, expensive, and disappointing. Angkor Wat, Great Barrier Reef, Tokyo Imperial Palace, Leaning Tower of Pisa, were all big yawns for us. Were they somewhat interesting and worth our time? Sure, of course! If we had not seen them, would it have mattered much to our overall trip? No, not really.
We found serendipity was the antidote to worn-out, must-see spots. Float down a river of warm, spring-fed water near Mataranka; walk across a sky bridge in the clouds in Langkawi; motorboat through a floating city in the Sultanate of Brunei; stroll down the beach with four dogs from the house we stayed at on Bali (who disappear but are always waiting for you when you get back); watch first-run movies while laying on floor cushions with other backpackers in Phnom Penh; gaze up at the night sky as it illuminates with floating wish lanterns on New Year's Eve in Chiang Mai; walk among thousands of butterflies and moths in the Australian Butterfly Sanctuary in Kuranda; listen to a concert of Renaissance music in Florence. All of these and many others were places or events we just happened on, without planning, and thoroughly enjoyed.
We met people everywhere also. Australians in all the caravan parks from the 9100 kms we drove; other travelers also back-packing for months at a time; and, most significantly, all the English-speaking AA meetings we attended that often had one or two people who would become friends. We could write pages on the wonderful, varied, and unique people we've connected with, just by going to a new place, or getting lost, or talking in an elevator.
Maybe most important of all, we discovered a key insight into how we need to travel. Through much trial and error, we found we can move from one place to another, being in a new place to stay, with new things to see, changing every day or two, but only for five or six weeks at a time. Then, it is Time To Stop. Maybe because we're older, perhaps because we're saner, definitely because we have the time, we've learned the key ingredient to long-term travel is stopping in one place for three to four weeks at regular intervals. Not to sight-see, not to do more locally, not even to save money (although long stops do decrease costs). No, just to really do nothing. Wake up late. Eat breakfast at noon. Read for a while. Walk to dinner somewhere. Rinse and Repeat until we're ready to flip open our passports to a new page.
And in-between we'll meet some new folks, see some spots not on any map, and discover more about ourselves that we ever thought possible. Happy One Year of Travel to Untethered.us and the plucky travelers.
Reader Comments (4)
Happy One Year to you too, Darling. What a touching summary of our times. I began a list of lessons learned on the Trip yesterday and, so far, I have 81 lessons! So sweet to be on this Journey with you!
Love
Shirl
Congratulations on your first year of travel!
You folks are a real inspiration - I love your approach to your adventure. It was such a pleasure to meet you and I'm looking forward to following you as you enter your second year of travel.
You folks take took care and I hope you blow by Paris again soon.
Bises,
Victoria
Hey guys!
I felt like stopping into live vicariously through your travels because I'm being told to sit still for a bit and it's kind of uncomfortable. It was really great to read this post and think back fondly on the evening we share in Portugal.
I hope this message finds you both well. You all are an inspiration and I hope to meet up with you perhaps in Boston when you make your way back to the states. Until then, may God bless you and your journey!
xoxo
@Victoria - Thanks for the comment! We love that you are following us and recommend your blog to our readers - http://thefranco-americanflophouse.blogspot.com/
And we are sure we will blow by Paris again soon. But on the next trip, as the EU has had enough of us for this calendar year!
Love,
Rowan and Shirl
@Lori - We can imagine how hard it would be for you to sit still! We are all good, and here in Croatia for another two and a half weeks, two weeks in Turkey, two weeks in Dublin, and ten days in Glasgow before September 1. Yahoo! We loved meeting you and look forward to seeing you again very soon!
Love
Shirl and Rowan