And Finally...
It’s now a month since I flew back into the country. England is January freezing and licking its financial wounds following the credit cock up. Nonetheless, it’s still good to be home. The decision to end the trip before India and head back for Christmas is one that I don’t regret. I had become a clockwork traveller; mechanism well and truly wound down.
My computer at my parents’ house is sat in front of a map of the world. I keep looking up at the names of countries and cities that I visited on my trip, and they trigger memories good and bad. But already the recollections are blurred, strangely second hand, as if they belong to somebody else.
I’ve been dreaming a lot recently, dreams of tropical countries where I’m still travelling. Sleep has become a place where overnight bus rides remain the norm, where noodle soup is the food of champions, where I still have to be careful of my bags lest they are snatched.
When I wake up back in Rochdale, in my own bed, it’s a strange feeling. I can only think that it’s my subconscious getting used to the idea that I’m not constantly on the move. After all, I spent no longer than a week in any one place for over a year. In waking life it feels good to finally have some stability, a daily routine.
One of the major travelling clichés is that people go away to find themselves. That was never my aim; I already knew who I was.
As the title suggests, this will be the
final entry on the blog. I'm delighted to have written my way around the world; at times it was a bit of a struggle. Looking back on the entries, some are better than others, but I've enjoyed the whole experience and hopefully it's improved my writing.
To everybody who has read my random scribblings; to all those who have commented and given encouragement; to family and friends who contacted me when I was away, reminding me of home; may I take this final opportunity to say a big ‘Thank you!’ If what I’ve written has raised a smile on even a single occasion, that’s good enough for me.
Finally, it’s very difficult to
express how much the people I met on the road brightened the whole
experience; local people and other travellers alike. Nonetheless, I’d
like to take the chance to say that I’m sincerely grateful to
everyone who helped along the way; they were not compelled to do so. Despite the thefts and other occasional setbacks, this sarcastic Englishman is slightly less cynical about humanity than when he left England thirteen months ago, and that's no bad thing.
Jean Paul Sartre once said: "Hell is other people." I think he was going to the wrong parties.
Safe travels!
Dave
