Looking Ahead

I’m anxious to get to Asia.

Don’t get me wrong, New Zealand and Australia are wonderful countries. But after South America and knowing I have Southeast Asia coming up, this isn’t the kind of travel I really want to be doing.

Australia is full of gap year Europeans hopping along the East Coast from one goon-filled tour to the next. I admit, I got swept up into an East Coast plan too – how can you not when you’re offered things like spending 3 days sailing around the Whitsundays or driving a 4WD around the largest sand island in the world? There’s a reason this is a popular route: it has great activities.

But I’m ready to get out of this route. I miss the travelers of South America, the people who took a chance to go somewhere completely different from home and discover adventures along the way instead of having them laid out in a travel package. The solo travelers who unite in their love of backpacking around that continent and embrace a flexibility that allows them to continue their travel together across new borders.

I miss the challenge of South America. Every day was unique, filled with language barriers, transportation questions, distinctive environments, and new stimulants for all the senses. The warm showers and drinkable water are great things, but I will happily trade them for the excitement of making the unknown known.

I hope that Asia will be the experience I am craving. It will be different too and have its own perks, quirks, and lows, and I am excited to find out what they are.

I realize this is a strange post to write before I even start talking about my time in Australia, but it’s where I’m at right now mentally and it would be wrong to not mention it for the sake of chronology. I will write plenty of positive things about my time here soon, but with just 10 days left until I leave this country I can’t help but shake this anxious feeling.