Have just returned from a 3 month holiday in asia; am now
back to work and feeling extremely Blah! Cohorts and peers
at my job don't understand and think I'm crazy; am already
planning and researching our next one to the middle east
for next year. Every time I come home from travelling I
feel different like I don't belong and have nothing in
common with others. They listen to a few travel tales and
have a perfunctory glance at our photos and then they have
had enough. (too bad the whole world does not revolve
around travelling!). Anyone else feel as I do? Interested
in hearing how others cope after returning from a journey.
[There are 53 posts - the latest was added on Sat 9 Jan, 21:24]
I know EXACTLY what you mean! I have just got back from the Middle East
- people don't know what to make of my exploits. But don't worry - just
remember you have seen things that they will never see, and inspite of the
usual ' I wish I had done some travelling' line, the juice is actally getting
out there and doing it.
Rob (UK)
I know exactly how you feel, things seem so plain and
boring when
you get home and no one can relate to what
you've experienced. Reading
posts and helping others
on the Thorn Tree has helped me make the
transistion
back. Another idea- have you considered doing some
freelance
travel writing to tell your story to an
interested audience. There's a
large travel publication
market looking for unique travel stories and
experiences.
And you can make a little money doing it.
But the best cure
for all of this is planning the next
trip out.
Cheers
Especially if you've been away for a long time. I've been
traveling
since 1981. The first time, I was away for 9
months. At the end I was
ready to come home --- no "reverse
culture shock". The second
time was for 6 months...and
again I was OK coming home. But there have
been about 12
more trips since then each time, and each time, the
"readjustment process" has gotten harder and harder. These
days I usually travel for 2 months and after getting home it
takes me
about 1 month to get back into the rhythm of
western working
life.
~
So true about co-workers and friends. They'll play along
for
a little while but they really don't get at all, do
they? "Oh, you're
so lucky." (yawn) "Isn't is awfully
dirty over there?"
(yawn) "For our vacation Frank and I
are going on a cruise next
month..." (yawn)
~
Coping strategies: Books about Asia. The few
friends who
have actually been there. Asian events at home, museums,
music. Writing. Planning the next trip. This site.
~
Also, I remind
myself that I really AM fortunate to live in
a place and time that enables
me to freely visit far away
places for long periods. It's a modern day
phenomenon,
really. Our parents never had the chance to do it. And
travel spoils a person I think. It's an amazing thing to
have total
freedom, so many options, so few responsibilities
for a long chunk of
time! It's intoxicating and addictive
--- coming back to
"normal" life afterwards is hard!
~
Well hang in there
Pologirl. Enjoy your memories, enjoy the
photos and all the goodies you
brought back, and get ready
for your next trip. Maybe it'll be even better
than the
last one --- there are so many amazing places to see in this
world!
~
one of the largest myths is that traveling is the cure for
wanderlust. it's not; it's usually the cause. i got back
from asia
four months ago and it's still all i think about.
i thought i would want a
pizza and some red wine when i
returned and i find myself still eating
stir-fry and
drinking tea all the time. i want to get up and 6:00 am and
watch some people do t'ai chi. i want to take long walks at
night
through the back alleys. i live in new york; i can do
neither.
it's
hard to remember and to understand why your trip is
more important to you
than to anyone else around you. i
find that when other non-wanderlust
people come back from a
trip i'm often more eager to talk about it than
they are.
there's no way to realy cope, all you can do is to
incorporate your new discoveries and interests into your
daily life as
much as possible. this isn't so much to
escape your home routine, it's to
make it better.
Yep
You guys are so right.When you've been away for a long
time,the real "culture shock" I find is getting back to
Perth International Airport.Usually by the time I'm
boarding the plane
to come home,I am already planning next
trip back.By about a week into
work,ie by the time have
seen all my mates here again etc,I've had a real
gutsfull
and am ready to pull the pin and piss off again.To cope,I
usually hang out with my other mates that travel,they
usually
understand,scan the papers for cheap airfares,look
at things like
this,keep in touch with all my mates
floating around SEA,and most
importantly COUNT the days
down till I take off again.I think the best
thing about
travelling like this (long trips,open ticket) once you get
there,you have ZERO responsibilities,if you don't wanna get
out of
bed,fine etc.Like I tried to explain to my friends
here,my life in
thailand consists basically of primal
urges.When I am hungry,I eat,when I
am thirsty I drink,when
I am tired,I sleep,and when I am horny,I .....No
alarm
clocks,schedules etc,unlike this shit of an existance back
here.I really do feel sorry for a lot of the guys (and
women of
course) back here that have done that,get
married,mortgage,2 kids,9-5
routine,and never have
travelled,except for the odd 10 day package tour
type shit
once every 2 or 3 years,but then again,they all think I am
completely insane and irresponsible,because every time I
build a nest
egg,I take off and spend it.Well,to each his
own....
Gasman
Agree with most all of the above. It's best not
to focus on whether
people want to hear your
stories -- they don't -- and to focus on
keeping
present in your daily life the lessons you learned,
and things
that came into your life, while travelling.
Cook stir-fry a lot. Buy a Thai
cookbook. Follow
Cambodian politics. Dress in long skirts. Seek
out a
Buddhist temple and meditate. In other words,
you were exposed to things
that you CAN keep in your
life a little bit, and rather than tell people
how
your perceptions were changed, you can just live it
yourself.
Or--accept the post-travel blues. Be
okay with it. Burrow inside your
house and read
books about Asia and only return phone calls to
friends
who also love Asia (well, don't go overboard.)
Chances are, eventually it
will fade, you'll
plan your next groovy trip like ot the Middle East,
come back, feel blue, and go through a phase
where you just eat hummus
and wear a veil.
With me it was the relatives. I was in Hawaii 3 years and
then in
China 3 years. Had dinner with my Aunt and cousins
and,,,, nobody asked any
questions. Zero interest for
anything outside of their
live-in-the-same-place-for-30-
years existance.
How to cope? Easy. Don't
go back.
I've been in Thailand two years now, and have no plans.
If I go
somewhere else my virtual office is still out in
cyberspace. Why should I
go back?
Robert
Yea, I can relate alot to what the other posts say. I left
my home
5 years ago, spending 3 1/2 years in London, then
another 2 1/2 in Asia.
I'm now back in domicicity, bought a
house, TV etc and have a job. It's
kinda nice at times, but
other times I feel guilty and bad for making this
last
choice.
like others, I too read this site quite frequently to
remember, and to help others.
These postings came at an interesting
time, as I now have
been 'home?' for almost a year, but I still feel close
to my
experiences is Asia. I read books about Asia, and spend
time
with friends who were there also.
Thanks for the space.
I hope it makes everyone reading these feel better about
their own
experience with the post-travel blues.
The first time I went to Europe (the
usual 'Grand Tour')
all i could think about was getting back to Canada and
telling all my buds about the wild things I saw and did,
show them
some pictures, erc. I also thought about the
places back home that i could
not wait to revisit (pubs,
etc).
The reality was that my friends did
not seem to
understand (or care) about my experiences, everything had
moved so SLOWLY since I had left, and the old things quickly
(very)
became boring again.
I quickly planned my next trip to counter this. I
picked up a working-holiday visa for Oz, and tripped off for
a year.
This time I could have cared less about back home,
and what was happening.
After my visa expired, i definitely
did NOT want to go home...but I had a
plan.
I decided the only way to stop feeling the post-travel-
blues and
to counter the wanderlust was to ALWAYS travel. I
have just finished my
B.Ed and I am off next month to a
private school in UK. I never plan on
coming home, only on
hopping from one place to the next every few
years.
Of course, this is not the best for everyone, but I
guess what i
am saying is that a person can make a decision
these days whereas they can
have an international career.
Good luck travellers, and always, *ALWAYS*,
take the
high road...
ryan.
.
ah pologirl,
i know the feeling very well...the previous posts have
kinda
said it all.....at least we know there are a few of us out
here
feeling the same way.
Just one thing to add....if anyone knows of an
internet
*chat* site that is about travel talk..please let me
know....ive searched chat sites all over the net looking for
a place
to talk to fellow travellers..shame that the *thorn
tree* doesnt have a
live chat area.
marlee
I'm not sure how to cope with "wanderlust" when forced to be
stationary either! I just rode my bicycle coast to coast
here in the
U.S., camping all the way. Now I'm back at work
and I cant wait for
weekends to do little 60 mile jaunts on
the bike!
Dealing with a
limited budget, most of my travel has
been confined to the U.S., Canada,
and Mexico, but if
someone were to show me the way, this single white male
would gladly do NOTHING BUT TRAVEL the face of this planet
for the
rest of my life!
Me too - Oh god its awful. Much like someone above, I just
pretend
I am still there while saving up for the next trip.
I live in a
multicultural city so that makes it easy - I eat
and cook Asian foods
constantly, live in an Asian enclave,
go to temples, am studying Asian
culture etc. etc. I also
waste hours on the Thorn Tree and spend ages
planning my
next trip. I try to go every year - so that gives me
something to look forward to.
You do this too, right, look at that one picture and know
the WHOLE
story completely in your head and that picture is
worth 10,000 words and
1,000,000 memories and when you got
10 words into the story back home
you've already been
interupted about what dress was on special at the gap
yesterday. When I travel I read more, write more, pay more
attention
to the world politacally, economically, and to
that beautiful flower that
was just there near my window so
perfect one morning. Just bursting with
ideas to share
with everyone you meet and thirsty to hear everything that
you are being told - and then you board the plane - and
then the
airport back home await with the same top 10 music
that was playing 2
months ago when you left, like time
stood still, and all of the excitement
and inertia come to
such a startling halt that you hit your head on
reality -
and that's when I fall down. Like the rest of you, I
recently returned from my latest S.E. asian excursion and I
miss it so
- I miss everything, not excluding the bad and
the ugly (standing in the
pouring rain w/ a 50 pound pack
on my back waiting to enter, soaked, onto
a sub freezing
air-con bus to the next destination). Who would love that
the next day? Only a select few I think - so as I shake
off the
"blues" and plan my next trip, I wish you all luck
in the
recovery process and hope to see you out there
sometime soon!
agreed, it sucks to return from some where (where ever that
may
be), and have to face the same ole' hum drum
crap...having to go back to
work and return to that satgnant
feeling that any traveler gets when they
come home...
but i'm tired of whinning about it, and sick of hearing
friends bich and moan (my bestest buds just returned from
and extended
journey in india). Now all they do is moan
about the weather (i live in
canada, it's november...). So
theese friends(in my opinion)are wasting
precious energy on
being miserable. instead of aproaching theyre return
with a
positive state of mind. you cant travel all the time,
everybody
needs a home base. Take it for what it's worth,
enjoy the things you can
count on that you cant when
traveling use your return to build strengths
that will be an
asset once you return to touring. just because it's
familiar doesnt mean you cant learn from it.
Gee Pologirl, all the great responses your posting inspired!
A
pleasure to read as I sit here (three weeks back now) on a
gray damp
California night, still mighty unsettled by the
cold weather, and by how
unbelievably quiet it is here.
~
I was thinking of the people who just
never stopped. I mean
people who decided to cut the big umbilical cord;
they
travel, live, and work all at the same time. They work for
NGO's,
they teach, they crew on boats, they are in sales,
they are bums, import
export, photography, relief work,
archeological digs, whatever. They
exchange roots at home
for a continuous life on the road. It definitely
takes
balls and a certain mindset, and obviously you give up a
lot,
but then in return, you could spend your whole life
traveling...
~
It's like a hidden phenomenon. Our nontraveling friends
don't
know this kind of life exists, the very concept would
probably scare them.
And at home we never meet them,
BECAUSE THEY'RE ALL SOMEWHERE ELSE. I'm
don't know if I'd
ever do it but you know what, I've met a lot of happy
people
who do, and it's one solution to the post Asia blues.
~
agreed, it sucks to return from some where (where ever that
may
be), and have to face the same ole' hum drum
crap...having to go back to
work and return to that satgnant
feeling that any traveler gets when they
come home...
but i'm tired of whinning about it, and sick of hearing
friends bich and moan (my bestest buds just returned from
and extended
journey in india). Now all they do is moan
about the weather (i live in
canada, it's november...). So
theese friends(in my opinion)are wasting
precious energy on
being miserable. instead of aproaching theyre return
with a
positive state of mind. you cant travel all the time,
everybody
needs a home base. Take it for what it's worth,
enjoy the things you can
count on that you cant when
traveling use your return to build strengths
that will be an
asset once you return to touring. just because it's
familiar doesnt mean you cant learn from it.
It's weird reading all the above postings. I'm an Asian
DYING for
my next trip back to the west. After studying in
California for 5yrs and
UK for 4yrs, it was refreshing
being back home in the east (Singapore),
for a while. My
friends simply have no idea what I have went throught, I
am
not being able to relate my feelings to my surrounding.
Like what
Pologirl describe, I feel like I don't belong and
have nothing in common
with others. I too also just
pretending I'm here just for the sake of
saving enough
money for my next trip. I'm lost. I have no idea where I
belong to. I do know that I belongs to anywhere except in
Asia. Any
advise?
Before we married in 1983 I travelled a lot with friends.
Mortgages, careers, child and health problems limited the
next 10
years. Then I hit 40, and we headed off to
Thailand. I've been twice with
friends, and 4 times with
the family (husband and daughter). We've also
been to Bali,
Sumatra and Malaysia. We plan 2 ahead and travel about
every 6 months or 9 months for 1 - 3 weeks - depending on
finances and
other demands. I did a travel writing course
and last Friday for the first
time won a big prize for an
article on - guess where- Thailand! (It wasn't
the first
prize and it was only 150 words but hey! I'm still
thrilled.) We also have a favourite Thai restaurant come
cafe, and I
have taken up learning Thai and this seems to
keep my feet on the ground
for the spaces in bewteen trips!
so there are ways of surviving even after
45 when the
travel bug has come back from its remission!
I sympathise with you, Pologirl, and I agree with most of
the
comments here. I have found that each time I travel to
somewhere new the
urge to continue grows greater. It's not
the place so much, even if you
love the places you visit. I
think it's the high you get from the new
experiences, the
challenge of fitting in, of feeling different and being
treated with interest by new people. I dealt with one return
from
overseas by bringing back with me a wife and dengue
fever!
One way to
deal with your problem - a little bit radical,
maybe - is to volunteer to
work oversees. Depends on where
you are, but many countries have
programmes that are crying
out for people who will work in developing
countries for a
local wage. Australian Volunteers Abroad, American Peace
Corps, etc, etc. I've taught in the Pacific for four years
and found
it wonderful. As a result I have less money and
lost promotion
opportunities in Tasmania, but I have wealth
that I cannot measure! I was
accepted in my host country,
met other volunteers and had opportunities
every day that
'tourists' only dream of.
One life - live it!
Best of
luck.
I´ve recently got back from a youthprogram i Thailand so
that´s
exactly how I feel at this moment. I miss
everything, the food, the
climate, the people, my
counterpart, the family, the village...And I konw
how it is
to want to tell everybody about your new experiences and
nobody wants to listen, they only want to talk about what
they have
been doing while you have been away.
I´ve had a hard time to accept that
I´m home and that my
society sucks. What I mean is that when you´re living
in a
different society you change your values and you start to
think
in a differnet way. Well, I did. And when you get back
home and everybody
expect you to be the same and you´re
bored with the life living in your
country.
There´s so many things, but here are some examples.
I think we all feel the same way, life at home lacks so
much, to
what we all have when away. I've been home now
(apart from quick breaks of
a week or two )for about
eighteen months. I long for distnat shores and a
tatase of
the life, however what hasn't yet been covered on this
topic
yet is that we have the knowledge and vision to know
that there is a whole
planet out there that we know exists
and is there for all of us, we can do
it, we can make the
break from the clinging societies we all get so
easilly
absorbed into and travel, we areblessed or cursed sometimes
i
don't know which!!!
Until the next time people, keep the vision, see ya at
the
airport!!!
God, reading all of these posts about your travels makes me
so
jealous! I'd love so much to be able to do the things
you all are talking
about; venturing off to asia or the
middle east. How do you do it? Most of
you sound like you
are able to take off from work for weeks or even months
at a
time, which is something I'm unable to do. Is it just a
matter of
making travel the number one priority in your life
and letting the chips
fall where they may? And how about
money? Any advice for a desperately
jealous traveler
want-to-be?
Yes, Pologirl, it's the same for everyone. I spent 2 years
travelling and working around Europe, Australia and Africa
in 1991-3,
and it took me a year to get my head back
together when I got home. Other
people I spoke to after
extended trips said that it took them just as
long. So be
patient.
Paradoxically, one thing I learnt while travelling
is that
it's not necessary to physically travel in order to
mentally
'grow'. You can grow simply by taking up new
challenges in your life at
home or at work, and your travel
experiences will help you in the sense
that if you have the
independence to go off and travel alone for months or
even
years then you should be able to rise to the challenges you
set
yourself.
On the other hand, 'physical' travelling is a lot of fun!
I
must say that even though it is 5 years since I got back
from travelling
(I can't believe it's that long!) I can
still remember the great
experiences very well. I have
tried to keep travelling, but have only done
one cycle tour
to Ireland and a month in Egypt since then. But I'm going
on a cycling tour to Cuba for seven weeks very soon!
I find it
difficult to decide whether to blow 2 years'
worth of leave from work, and
about $3,000, for a 7-week
journey to Cuba, or whether to save my money
for 2 or 3
years and then take off again for a full year or more.
It's
a bit of a dilemma.... what do the contributors to
this thread think?
\ Ihave just returned from a trip to malaysia and do feel alittle blue
about being back, but,,, I have the best job I've
ever had in a great
city,Vancouver, and I know that this
enables me to continue to travel where
ever,whenever.
So, buckup and just relish all the great memories and look
forward to the next great trip, and remember every trip is a
good
trip.
Travel offers an unprecedented amount of freedom : to shed
one's
responsibilities for a few days/weeks/months/years
allows us humans to
feed our souls. The daily boring
perpetual grind of
?sleep?/shower/eat/travel/work/eat/work/travel/eat/or
sports/eat/?sleep? (replace ? with personal nocturnal
habits !) is
toxic to our spirits and souls, and to shed
these daily chores, that are
there only for income
purposes, is like once more breathing a truly fresh
breath
of oxygen, and all one's worries fall away !
Travellers are a
breed apart : the ultimate traveller will
have seen the truth of life, for
the truth does exist out
there. For the unenlightened, the truth is this
:
We must work to pay for food/accommodation/living
expenses/wife's
habits/children's schoolfees etc...,
HOWEVER it is not in the nature of
'Yin Yang' balance of
life to do too much of any one thing. For example,
working
all year long with only 4 or 5 weeks holiday is WRONG.
Spending too much on material possesions is WRONG. However,
because
most people are numbed by the material world, they
cannot see the big lie
they are all living by. Why spend 50
years of your life and then realise
that all those years
were spent paying off a mortage, financing 25 of the
latest
models of car or fashion clothes (only superficial people
judge
others by how they look - OK, one should at least
maintain basic personal
hygiene and non too tattered
clothes, but new Armani suits and 'Polo'
boxer shorts taken
as examples - why the hell do you need these - are all
you
people insecure without a 'label' ?!?) and overpriced
package
holidays to Bora Bora and Tahiti and outrageously
overpriced school and
college tuition fees, let alone
income, road and value added taxes some or
all perhaps mis-
used / abused / wasted. The list is endless. Money and
materialness numbs the senses. Trust me. This is THE
Ultimate Truth
!
Get a grip is what I say : the world has been misled by the
media and
companies into believing that they must have all
the material bullshit
that is thrust in our faces
(subliminal advertising) by TV, radio,
billboards,
newspapers & magazines. Henry T Ford, sure he invented a
fine thing in the automobile, The Wright Bros also a jolly
fine little
plane, BUT MANKIND IS WRONG TO USE CARS AND
PLANES TOO MUCH, LIKE WE ARE
DOING NOW. THE RESULT HAS BEEN
AND IS THE CONTINUAL DAMAGE DONE TO THE
ENVIRONMENT :
PLEASE STOP THE DAMAGE MANKIND !!!!!
Take a bicycle or
local bus or train : leave the car at
home. Hell, why don't all you lazy
scuzzbuckets get up off
your asses and walk (so long as it's not too far -
and by
far I mean more than 3 miles !) Take a ferry or cargo
vessel,
avoid the airports. However, as everyone is in such
a hurry, I doubt they
will go by cargo boat. ANALYSIS :
MAKIND IS IN A RUSH, BUT WHERE IS IT
GOING : NOWHERE +
VALUE OF LIFE REDUCTION DUE TO MATERIALNESS NUMBING THE
SENSES !
Anyway, back to the main point of this : coming back to
work after a foreign trip (we're talking a 'traveller's'
trip here,
not a package bloody holiday where lazy, numbed
office workers stay in
overpriced accommodation !), to see
the individuals that work 50/52 weeks
etc.., travellers
have had a taste of that freedom, but the office of
despair
worker is perhaps jealous, which is why don't show much
interest. Also, the travel tales, they cannot really relate
to these
NOR perhaps understand them ! It is a different
world to them, you may as
well be green and have got out of
a flying disc from mars !!!!!
The
traveller will feel alien in the old office / factory
environment etc..,
and will feel perhaps claustrophobic
having to numb their minds for 8
hours a day packing
tomatoes into boxes / inputting data into computer
systems
or whatever it is all you people do out there when working
!
The traveller will have realised that, especially on a
longer trip in
a poor 3rd World country like for e.g.
India, that he/her must be careful
with their money if they
wish to stay away for a long time given X amount
of funds.
Also, after a while (so long as they are not stupid and
ENJOY spending too much and paying over the odds) they will
realise
that the life that people lead in the west is
wrong, driven by the
material craze that is all too
pervading !
The simple way of life in
the East seems to provide the
answers. The answer is this : LESS IS MORE
!
Yes, that is exactly right, less is more ! Well, how can
this be so,
you might all ask ? Well, it is thus : the less
material goods you have,
the more you appreciate them. The
more you have, the more you want. AVOID
THE 'MORE MORE
MORE' WAY !
Take the car : India has got it right : have
one type of
car (in the main) and use them until they break down. Why
replace/mend it if it ain't broke ?!?
The gloriously simple way of life
yields simple pleasures,
ones forgotten by most who have succumbed to
'Western
Numbness'. The luxury of a cooling breeze, a nice walk in
the
hills, going to bed at dusk and up at dawn, fishing, no
TV, no microwaves,
etc... the list goes on.
Unfortunately, the west is now ruining the east.
Some
families in India are now believing that they cannot do
without a
microwave oven or TV. Why the hell don't you
people just like cook with a
cooker instead of wanting
everything so damned quickly with a microwave
?!? Talk to
each other / play cards / chess / football instead of
watching the TV ?!?
PLEASE MANKIND, DON'T SCREW UP THE EAST AS WELL AS
THE WEST
Jim Morrison had a saying : "The West is the Best"
I
think now this need adjusting to :
"The East is the Best"
You
see, the east does not generally have the education
level and global /
historical informational awareness as
the west. Mostly, the east would
look towards the west and
want what they see e.g. Levis Jeans/Microwave
Ovens/Satellite TV etc.... However, it is only those
enlightened souls
from the west who have gotten so hacked
off with all the western numbness
(after perhaps a great
deal of travelling and other personal achievements)
who
realise that what the east has (and is starting to lose) is
unarguably a better way of life. Remember, less is more.
Don't forget
your body's spririt and soul : they are VERY
VERY IMPORTANT !
Remember,
please be less materialistic, help save the
planet, and, just as
importantly, save your soul as well :
"DON'T GO WEST YOUNG MAN/WOMAN,
GO EAST !"
Travel offers an unprecedented amount of freedom : to shed
one's responsibilities for a few days/weeks/months/years
allows us
humans to feed our souls. The daily boring
perpetual grind of
?sleep?/shower/eat/travel/work/eat/work/travel/eat/or
sports/eat/?sleep? (replace ? with personal nocturnal
habits !) is
toxic to our spirits and souls, and to shed
these daily chores, that are
there only for income
purposes, is like once more breathing a truly fresh
breath
of oxygen, and all one's worries fall away !
Travellers are a
breed apart : the ultimate traveller will
have seen the truth of life, for
the truth does exist out
there. For the unenlightened, the truth is this
:
We must work to pay for food/accommodation/living
expenses/wife's
habits/children's schoolfees etc...,
HOWEVER it is not in the nature of
'Yin Yang' balance of
life to do too much of any one thing. For example,
working
all year long with only 4 or 5 weeks holiday is WRONG.
Spending too much on material possesions is WRONG. However,
because
most people are numbed by the material world, they
cannot see the big lie
they are all living by. Why spend 50
years of your life and then realise
that all those years
were spent paying off a mortage, financing 25 of the
latest
models of car or fashion clothes (only superficial people
judge
others by how they look - OK, one should at least
maintain basic personal
hygiene and non too tattered
clothes, but new Armani suits and 'Polo'
boxer shorts taken
as examples - why the hell do you need these - are all
you
people insecure without a 'label' ?!?) and overpriced
package
holidays to Bora Bora and Tahiti and outrageously
overpriced school and
college tuition fees, let alone
income, road and value added taxes some or
all perhaps mis-
used / abused / wasted. The list is endless. Money and
materialness numbs the senses. Trust me. This is THE
Ultimate Truth
!
Get a grip is what I say : the world has been misled by the
media and
companies into believing that they must have all
the material bullshit
that is thrust in our faces
(subliminal advertising) by TV, radio,
billboards,
newspapers & magazines. Henry T Ford, sure he invented a
fine thing in the automobile, The Wright Bros also a jolly
fine little
plane, BUT MANKIND IS WRONG TO USE CARS AND
PLANES TOO MUCH, LIKE WE ARE
DOING NOW. THE RESULT HAS BEEN
AND IS THE CONTINUAL DAMAGE DONE TO THE
ENVIRONMENT :
PLEASE STOP THE DAMAGE MANKIND !!!!!
Take a bicycle or
local bus or train : leave the car at
home. Hell, why don't all you lazy
scuzzbuckets get up off
your asses and walk (so long as it's not too far -
and by
far I mean more than 3 miles !) Take a ferry or cargo
vessel,
avoid the airports. However, as everyone is in such
a hurry, I doubt they
will go by cargo boat. ANALYSIS :
MAKIND IS IN A RUSH, BUT WHERE IS IT
GOING : NOWHERE +
VALUE OF LIFE REDUCTION DUE TO MATERIALNESS NUMBING THE
SENSES !
Anyway, back to the main point of this : coming back to
work after a foreign trip (we're talking a 'traveller's'
trip here,
not a package bloody holiday where lazy, numbed
office workers stay in
overpriced accommodation !), to see
the individuals that work 50/52 weeks
etc.., travellers
have had a taste of that freedom, but the office of
despair
worker is perhaps jealous, which is why don't show much
interest. Also, the travel tales, they cannot really relate
to these
NOR perhaps understand them ! It is a different
world to them, you may as
well be green and have got out of
a flying disc from mars !!!!!
The
traveller will feel alien in the old office / factory
environment etc..,
and will feel perhaps claustrophobic
having to numb their minds for 8
hours a day packing
tomatoes into boxes / inputting data into computer
systems
or whatever it is all you people do out there when working
!
The traveller will have realised that, especially on a
longer trip in
a poor 3rd World country like for e.g.
India, that he/her must be careful
with their money if they
wish to stay away for a long time given X amount
of funds.
Also, after a while (so long as they are not stupid and
ENJOY spending too much and paying over the odds) they will
realise
that the life that people lead in the west is
wrong, driven by the
material craze that is all too
pervading !
The simple way of life in
the East seems to provide the
answers. The answer is this : LESS IS MORE
!
Yes, that is exactly right, less is more ! Well, how can
this be so,
you might all ask ? Well, it is thus : the less
material goods you have,
the more you appreciate them. The
more you have, the more you want. AVOID
THE 'MORE MORE
MORE' WAY !
Take the car : India has got it right : have
one type of
car (in the main) and use them until they break down. Why
replace/mend it if it ain't broke ?!?
The gloriously simple way of life
yields simple pleasures,
ones forgotten by most who have succumbed to
'Western
Numbness'. The luxury of a cooling breeze, a nice walk in
the
hills, going to bed at dusk and up at dawn, fishing, no
TV, no microwaves,
etc... the list goes on.
Unfortunately, the west is now ruining the east.
Some
families in India are now believing that they cannot do
without a
microwave oven or TV. Why the hell don't you
people just like cook with a
cooker instead of wanting
everything so damned quickly with a microwave
?!? Talk to
each other / play cards / chess / football instead of
watching the TV ?!?
PLEASE MANKIND, DON'T SCREW UP THE EAST AS WELL AS
THE WEST
Jim Morrison had a saying : "The West is the Best"
I
think now this need adjusting to :
"The East is the Best"
You
see, the east does not generally have the education
level and global /
historical informational awareness as
the west. Mostly, the east would
look towards the west and
want what they see e.g. Levis Jeans/Microwave
Ovens/Satellite TV etc.... However, it is only those
enlightened souls
from the west who have gotten so hacked
off with all the western numbness
(after perhaps a great
deal of travelling and other personal achievements)
who
realise that what the east has (and is starting to lose) is
unarguably a better way of life. Remember, less is more.
Don't forget
your body's spririt and soul : they are VERY
VERY IMPORTANT !
Remember,
please be less materialistic, help save the
planet, and, just as
importantly, save your soul as well :
"DON'T GO WEST YOUNG MAN/WOMAN,
GO EAST !"
Written by Buffalo : 18th November 1998
PS : it is
better for the traveller if everyone in the
world does NOT know the
ultimate truth, because if
they did, then there would be just too many
damn people all
fighting for a view of that glorious sunset over Goa or
watching the Rio Carnaval or trying to board cargo boats to
location X
; imagine Indian buses and trains with more
people on them (unimaginable
!!!!!), the Mexico City Metro
with more (also unimaginable !) So, if too
many knew the
truth, it would ruin it for us travellers - 'shoooosh, keep
quiet' ! Adios amigos/as !!
You should take your own advice: less is more.
.
I manage to get away about once a year for a week or so for
vaction. I work as a technical trainer so I do get to
travel outside
of the country from time to time and always
make it a point to take a few
extra vacation days. The
problem that I am having is how to balance the
career thing
and my love for travel. I would love to take off for a year
or so and travel, but money is an major issue (as I am sure
it is for
every one). I would like to get a better sense of
what you all do for a
living that allows you to continue to
travel for such extended lengths of
time. What are your age
groups and what sort of income to you derive.
Maybe I am
just doing something wrong here. Each time I go away I seem
to get the point that I can live with less, enjoy life more
if I just
get out there etc. The pull is strong, but alas
the financial obligations
at this point are stronger. I
also seem to worry about my future as I am
the oldest child
(29 yrs) and have seen what the "carefree"
attitude has
gotten my partents now. (yes they used to travel, with me
in tote, but the lack of watching and planning a real future
has taken
it's toll on all us children).
so, if any one has any real input on such
matters I would
love to hear from them. The idea of just giving it all up
and leaving is not an option right now, so please be
somewhat real
with your responses.
Not really looking for a "sugar daddy", but
could be
pursuaded....
Peace
-Ruby
I know what your talking about but kind of from the other end. I've had
my taste of travel before and as any traveller knows, it's very addictive. My
next trip is in two months and it's the biggest yet. I'm travelling across
central and south east Asia for a year. I've never been gone that long before
and am REALLY excited. The only person I feel I can talk to these days is
Jake, the dude that's going with me. My girlfriend doesn't want to hear about
my plans, it just depresses her. My friends and coworkers are getting pretty
bored of it as well, but right now there is nothing else on my mind. Anyone
who's travelled knows that dealing with the long weeks prior to a big
adventure can be more grueling than Chinese algebra. So here I am, waiting
patiently in a dismal, gray city with no one to talk to for two months.
But
cheer up Pologirl. You've done something incredible and you're a better person
for it. Just plan you're next one and go, it is out there in the world where
you will find like minded people to talk too.
Trev in Canada
how does one find a job that lets you travel while being
paid. I
would love to work for lonely planet, or something
along those lines it
would be great. can anyone help me??
Imagine if you're holiday was coming
home, and you're
income was from travelling. travelling is taxing on the
body & mind after a while but on the other hand you're
seeing
other cultures, experiencing things that other people
only dream of. I
have done alot of travelling, & would like
to do alot more & I am
sure there is a company out there
that needs employers to travel, i'll do
t.v I'll break dance
in some little pub in england, or ride a goat up the
side of
tibet I am all for it. but seriously if anyone has any
ideas
on how to get into the travel for a living I am all
ears.
p.s. also
good bars in vancouver B.C
Tomas, you are in an interesting spot. Reading the plight of
all
these Westerners dying to get back to Asia and there you
are at the other
end of things...sorry to hear that you are
so out of sorts in the place
you used to call home. i am
asian american (known in hawaii as hapa-haole
or half-white)
and have also lived overseas for 3 years (Australia) and
traveled quite a bit...it's always difficult and
enlightening to make
the transition between different
cultures, the present moment and a
memory. ultimately
though, i hope it is possible to find peace wherever it
is
you reside. it is worth striving for. belonging is a state
of mind.
Trev (going to Central and Southeast Asia for a year)...you
know
the two months will actually pass very
quickly...and...before you know it
you'll be over there in
the other world.
.
So what about the
opposite of post travel blues. For me it
begins about 3 days before I
leave home and then intensifies
as the packing gets finished, work stops,
you do some
errands but things become kind of quiet, even hypnotic in a
way. You are leaving on an airplane in 39 hours or
whatever, it is
inevitable, you only need to get to the
airport, you haven't physically
left, but your mind is
somewhere else. Everything is in place, it will not
change,
you might just as well be strapped to a comveyor belt. You
WILL be on that plane, and now you don't have to do anything
except
kick back and enjoy the anticipation. Time slows
down. You feel good.
Nothing can hurt you. Drive down the
road and let all the bored people
tailgate, pass you,
whatever. Hey no problem! In 24 hours you'll be over
there
so it just doesn't matter...
.
Hey uh Trev...can I join you
guys?
.
Sawasdee,
I think maybe the problem is going back "home."
I don't have
any emotional attachment to the U.S. so I reckon the best
thing is to move to the place that I enjoy. In my case that
would be
rural Thailand. Sure, Thailand has some major (big,
big) problems, but
hey!, isn't the food great tasting, the
people attractive and friendly,
and the hot and humid
weather comfortable (well, it is to a hot-house weed
like
me)!
I have my six month visa (I'm married to a Thai), and we
just need to arrange for a plane tickets, and then come
January, we're
climbing on that big silver bird to the
Kingdom of Thailand.
Thank you
very big!
HC
What a great read! Guess one shouldn't enjoy reading so
much misery
and post-travel blues, but it's so good for the
soul to know there are so
many kindred spirits out there
all experiencing that same passion for
being on the road.
Hate to tell you that it NEVER gets any easier no
matter
how old you are. I've been travelling for over 30 years
now
(with a soul-destroying break of about 10 years while I
did the
conventional things like getting married, having
kids etc. that women were
conditioned to accept as 'normal'
back then). I think we all must have
been born addicted to
travelling, because everyone who's added to this
post
obviously shares the same need for the excitement, the
beauty,
the never-knowing-what-comes-next feelings, and the
tremendous camaraderie
you have with other travellers.
It's so easy to talk and become really
friendly with other
people with backpacks on ... where does everyone
disappear
to when they land back home ... there must be other
restless, incurable vagabonds moping around in their own
home cities
just longing to share experiences and to talk
to someone who knows what
it's all about. I'd love to
meet any where I live (Adelaide, South
Australia). The
only way to survive is to know that the most important
thing in life is to follow your real passion and to keep on
travelling
as often as you possibly can - and to keep
reading travel books, logging
in to the Lonely Planet,
learning another language, eating food you love,
re-reading
your journal and going through your old photos ... and one
day planning to spend much more time somewhere other than
where you
are now. I'm sure we'll meet up along the road
somewhere, sometime. Keep
saving!
I have to say I agree with most of what you all have said,
especially Jada and most of what the long speil Buffalo
said. But
while we all wallow in our own depressions, can
we not think of the people
who live where we have been.
They live day to day in the same places with
not much of an
outlet. We are lucky to travel, come home and be happy.
i didn't mean to imply the impression that i was wallowing
in self
pity, laying on the couch in the fetal postion, not
going to work, not
bathing or eating, not responding to
verbal stimuli (sure signs of
depression):) i am blessed in
the fact that i was born in a country that
has enabled me
to get a decent job that enables me to have the luxury of
travelling the world (although inexpensively), as
travelling is my
passion. it is thouroughly addictive and
there is nothing else that
excites me as travel does; the
inital period of being home i find very
difficult, but as
time passes the post travel blues pass and by that time
I
have part of the next adventure researched......and life is
good
again..............happy trails
I hear you.
I agree with all of you! If only we could all find each other from time to time to have a good reminisce! I find that as soon as I return home, I'm planning the next adventure. I feel as though I'm living from adventure to adventure and just putting up with what's in between. I'm really turned-off by the usual settle down and have a sedentary life role. I want to see everything I possibly can. I actuall feel my life is a series of advetures and great experiences as opposed to a life tracked by the usual milestones. Can this continue forever? Sure I travel cheaply but it does add up and what will I use to support myself in my old age????? Oh well! I guess the excitement alone makes up for the not-knowing. I feel that it's not a question of whether I'll go someplace, but rather a question of when. Welcome to the exclusive club where membership has its privileges, but it also has its costs.....to me it's worth it and I wouldn't trade a single moment of travelling!!!!
Almost everybody here, including me, seems to know this
feeling.
When I came home from my first trip, I felt totally
down because of the
instant wish to be anywhere else...
I hope your place at home is at least a
bit cosmopolitan. I
started to make friends from foreign countries, e.g.
who
study at my university or live in my town. This makes me
feel that
I am not in a boring world like the fellows
without foreign friends. And
my home is abroad for my
foreign friends. Realize the relations...
We are all addicts. We are addicted to traveling. There is
nothing
better than the freedom of traveling. To me
drinking a cold beer in a
dirty bar in a freign country is
heaven. I have just returned from a month
on a tiny island
in Indonesia-Nias.
I need help. My future wife (Jan)
and I have a cool
agreement. I take 1-2, 3-4 week adventures all alone. I
am
a teacher and have a lot of time. She is a lawyer and has
little
time, This works for us both.
I am counting down the days until we take a
month to
backpack through Europe. She has never been anywhere and I
know this will blow her mind and turn her into addicts like
the rest
of us.
I am still enjoying my latest bout of travel, and find it
difficult
to imagine returning home to resume life in the
"real world".
After falling in love with Laos I think the
solution for me is to move
there and find work and just see
how it turns out.
I'd love to hear
from people who have taken the big leap and
moved to another country
temporarily / permanently. How long
did it take to get settled ? What
problems did you encounter
?
Well, more than a few people have asked HOW do people manage to spend
so much time
travelling. For me personally it`s come down to a choice :
`stability` vs freedom. By this I
mean that I have forgone the
traditionally stable things like a career, marriage, a house, a car..
etc.
and instead I live from month to month, travelling when I have money, and
stopping for
long enough to earn some more when I don`t. I don`t know how
long I can keep this up
(people keep telling me it gets more difficult to
find work as you get older?) but I do know
that I`ve got the travel bug
sufficiently bad that I don`t wanna stop..
It`s been cool to read this
thread and find many, many other people feel the same way; back
home most
of my friends and family think I`m quite mad.
Happy travelling!
Whew - what a long list of posts! However, that makes me
feel so
much better. Especially now, around the holidays
when all of my
non-traveling friends are shopping for
expensive gifts, living in the
25-year mortgage homes and
driving to the mall in SUV's. It's even harder
for
Americans to find people who understand, as we tend to
travel less
and have short vacation times. I'm the
"eccentric" of my group
at home. When I came home from six
monthe in SE Asia, my solution was to
get a job as a flight
attendant with a charter airline. Yes it's a
compromise,
but the upside is that I've been sent all over the world
for free to work, I get 12 days off per month (lots of time
to take a
quick trip), I get really cheap air tickets
(sometimes free) and I get
almost two months of vacation
per year. It's just enough time to get lost
in a country.
This year I went to India and Nepal and had enough time to
forget about home, and to get from Arizona to Delhi took
forever but
cost almost nothing. Plus the job is pretty
easy and I get the usual job
benefits (401K, health care,
etc.) It's just a suggestion.
Well,the following is a letter recieved from the Special
Persecutor
of the Chiangmai Hash,in reply to the one I sent
him,the night I returned
here and got drunk and depressed
(A few things in the letter you won't
get,don't worry about the polar bears or old ladies,part of our Hash
Hymn....)
GASMAN - got your return travel report last Friday and passed
your regards on to whoever I met. Upon reading about your problems in
handling your personal affairs in Bangkok, depression in Perth and
negotiating simple tasks such as boarding an aircraft we have
unanimously decided you have Chiang Mai Withdrawal Syndrome, usually
known briefly as C.H.M.W.I.T.H.D.R.A.W.L.S.I.N. There is no cure
for C.H.M.W.I.T.H.D.R.A.W.L.S.I.N but you can still live a long
life, perhaps another 5-6 years, but you must do EXACTLY as I
say. - Do make your return booking to Chiang Mai immediately (and
I notice with some relief that even you thought of this). - Do
Hash in Perth and try to draw comfort from fellow drunks
and deviates. - Do Not worry about your new friend MAM, the members
on the Male Hash kindly volunteered to look after her until you get
back (I was also reduced to tears when I heard their generous
offer) - Do find every legal opportunity to drink as much as you can
to avoid blood alcohol volume falling to dangerous levels -
regular binge drinking as we do in Chiang Mai does give the best
results but remember where you are. - Do while in Perth try to find
something to do between 3am and 10am in the morning to
substitute for drinking - some members suggested sleeping but I'm
not sure about that, I personally feel more depressed when I wake
up and remember what I did. - Do immediately bring your return trip
forward the moment you feel you see an attractive Aussie girl - a
very dangerous symptom called hellucinations. Well Gasman I must
thank you for your company in Chiang Mai and your support with
special evidence - its caught on. On Saturday I was handed 3
sets of evidence, to persecute Gooday and Puts It In for stealing
and misuse of mushrooms, Wombat and Ex Virgin Sister for unbecoming sex
in the circle, and Suckit as one of the three males in an improper
pose with one of the pretty things in Hetty Bar - the two other
males in the same lurid pose were unfortunately absent, Smelly Box and
yourself. You asked what was the brilliant hash quote I gave you to
pass on to Dingo. Sorry I forgot. But I suppose if there was
something more relevant to Dingo's hash days than fucking antarctic
polar bears and mugging old age pensioners, it would be "Zupata,
Zupata, Zupata-ta". Try that! You might also ask Dingo what he
did to get over the S.I.N. I know that he got deeply involved in his
hobby for a while of making strong home beer, until
he went blind. On On..Superman PS. You may remember when all the
girls from Togethor Bar sat on you on the farewell pissup. Well Mai,
the one who sat on your face says she's now got a rash on her bum,
she says not to worry, she thinks its because
you hadn't shaved.
What a response! Six hours ago i made an impulsive decision to fly to
Africa and then home to Australia the night before uni starts up again. What a
comfort it is to read all these letters.I know when l do return in two months,
this summer will feel like a distant dream.
Upon returning from my last
stint in Thailand on a bicycle it took me
it took me a whole semester to
focus on what l was studying and haul myself out of the daydreams and
depression cycle.
Can`t decide whether reading travel books made it better
or worse.
Re-adjusting is hard, and no-one seems to understand nor wants to
hear about the family welcomed you into their home and offered you a shower,
and food because you`d been riding for the last 8 hours, and how their honest
generousity brought you to tears. Or the time you got lost and ended up
drawing pictures on toilet paper and maddly playing charades in order to find
the last boat to Ko Whatever while a Thai family ( extended family included by
this stage) giggled politely at first then later fell over each other in
hysterics, because by this stage you were desperately pretending to BE the
boat, and an island and the sea.....
And yes l also know how damn
frustrating it is to deal with the "Ohh that sound very dangerous, wish i
was independent like you" people. Or the people that wouldn`t even dream
of leaving their state/province whatever, and going to a developing
country????
I think when l return home this time ,i'll stick a post on the
Thorn Tree that`s very similiar to all of those that you`ll find below.
because at least then it will be like telling someone that
understands.
bon voyage, mel. hope your trip is wonderful -- we'll all
look
forward to your thoughts when you return home. go in
peace.
...do you need to go to be travelling? What countries
qualify? If
you "get a job and stay there forever" does that
not mean you
stopped travelling. What is home to some is an
exotic outpost to another!
Some of you speak of travelling
in Europe! Hell, this is home to me,
toally boaring!!!
I lived in Oz for a while, but you see, then that became
HOME and the travelbug came back!
It's not about where you go
-
TRAVEL IS A STATE OF MIND! Do not get fooled in to thinking
you´d be
happier if you lived in SE Asia or anywhere else.
Just face it - we are
restless souls, and we will never be
happy if we stay too long in one
place.
That's what make us experience more in life than other
people -
But it also means we are the bugs of the globe, the
very parasites who
have to take our western selves to other
cultures and thrive only when we
feed off, and spoil the
very source of our existence.
Marco