Finding My Fix: Chronicles of a Travel Junkie

Item #1: Changes to “The Plan” Nov 5 I fly to Sydney, Nov 11 I fly to Bangkok, Nov 16 I fly to Seoul and arrive around 8am, Nov 16 around 8pm I leave Seoul and fly to Honolulu. I’ll be home for Thanksgiving… I may be unbelievably jet-lagged, but I will be home. Within three weeks of getting home, I’ll be on my way again. And on to #2…

This may sound a bit “deep,” so be forwarned. I came to New Zealand on a whim. I made the decision to come here in a matter of about two days, and once that decision was made, nothing would stand in my way, and nothing did. So I got here, essentially unprepaired and scared out of my wits yet at the same time excited beyond belief. When my mum flew away, I was all alone, I didn’t know a soul within 7,000 miles. But sometimes that’s what a body needs, total isolation. It was all up to me whether I would sink or swim, and no one could do a damn thing about it. I swam.

It’s good to know I can swim. I guess I hadn’t quite realised that before, but I can. All it took was a few “Hello, my name is” and I’d built myself a boat. I’ve been friends with the people I met since June 29. Never in my life have I had such an instantaneous connection with people as I have in the past three weeks. They’re my family for the time being; we help each other stay afloat. And I think we all have it in mind that we will stay a family forever. I WILL be going to Singapore when Jency gets married, and I WILL be visiting Andrea, Stephanie, Tess, Caroline, Camille, and her friend Andreas, among others when I go to Europe. And hopefully someday they’ll all be visiting me.

I have no doubt in my mind that I’ve found my kind of people. Not surprising, ey, when all of you have traveled half way around the world knowing absolutely no one; when you buy tickets to Fiji together after knowing each other a week; when you start to hug each other the day you meet. You’re made for each other. It amazes me how quickly and deeply that connection can be made. I feel like I’ve known them forever, like I’ve already seen them at their best and worst, and they’ve seen me.

So I suppose you could say I feel, too, like I’m following the natural order of things. You would say that coming to New Zealand for four and a half months would be stepping out of my comfort zone, but in fact, I don’t know if I’ve ever felt more comfortable in my life. I’m doing what I know best, which is adapting to a new environment. I don’t know what it’s like to have a stable continous environment, have a routine, stay in one place, know the same people for years. It’s just not what I do. They say everytime you move to a new home your risk of a heart attack goes up, but I think for me, it’s everytime I have to stay still.

My advice for people like me, the ones who just have to go somewhere new, and they have to do it now, the ones that don’t know why but they simply have to go. The explorers I suppose… Open. You have to keep your heart open to the people you meet, to opportunities to meet new people, new cultures, new places, opportunities to change yourself, and be changed by others. But know who you are, and that no one can change you unless you let them. Know your limits, but do everything within them, and do your best to stretch them. Cultivate your instinct and follow it. Be thick skinned, but do so in the sense that your skin is thick, but your heart is big. You will have to say goodbye all too often, but don’t let that scare you out of saying hello. Accept the fact that there will be rough times, and more importantly accept the fact that no time will ever be too rough. And finally, everywhere you go, there are people who are so different from you that they are just like you. All you have to do to find them is open to let them in.

Alright, enough sap, I’ll post the rest of the pictures of Hell’s Gate and the rest of the North Island later. And just because I’ve developed a new family here does NOT mean I have forgotten my old one. Love to all of you!

Tags: Travel

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