As you may have realised, either by my previous blog entry or by running into me in the local supermarket, I am no longer on the extended journey that I set out on last year. My adventure that took over my life for several months was, hands down, the best experience of my life. The cliches are all true. Travel does broaden the mind. It makes you more independent. It gives you the opportunities to speak to people you would never ordinarily meet. And clearly, by its very nature, it takes you places you've never been. These new places range from being wonderfully mundane to enticingly interesting. And then you stumble across the odd place that is so achingly beautiful that you cannot quite believe how not everyone is able to see it.
I'm happy to report that along my journey there was no epiphany moment. I did not 'find' myself. I have not returned as some new age hippy exalting the virtues of communing with nature. What I did find along my way was a clearer belief that the journey trumps the destination every time. 'Lost' should never be a dirty word. You find more captivating conversations and more unexpected stops along the way when you're not entirely sure of where you're headed. I have always felt reaching your final destination of a journey anti-climatic. When I think back to childhood holidays, (sorry Mum and Dad) some of the best times were watching the rolling countryside and odd villages pass outside the window as we headed West. Then the random stops at a newly discovered town market or a spontaneous detour based on an intriguing road sign. That is why we should travel. The exploration of the unknown. The joy of discovery. The tiny genesis of nerves in your stomach when you head off the beaten track.
And that is why I shall endeavour to travel. It's all about the journey.
Circumstances as they are, I cannot take up the path I had planned to continue in the far off places of this world. But not to worry. Life is what it is and as I have already said, sometimes the journey we take isn't the path we intended, but that doesn't make it any less interesting.
So I intend to travel as far as I can, and pass through as many new places as possible. I have always maintained that there is beauty and intrigue wherever you go; you just have to look close enough. So there is a whole world out there to explore. Why not start somewhere closer to home? And my travels so far have taught me that you can meet a whole range of people, no matter where you are in the world. I spent a wonderful Christmas with a group of people in Central America, three of whom lived less than five miles from me. So who knows who I'll end up meeting halfway up a mountain and listening to their tales next.
The journey is never finished.
This Isham gnome is not hanging up her travelling boots yet...
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