The end. An odd way to start anything but apt in this case because th-th-th-th-th-that’s all folks.
After 274 days and seven countries my trip is over: the last goodbye said, the last souvenir crammed into my now-decrepit rucksack, the last crummy guesthouse checked-out of.
As I type this, I’m suspended about a mile above the Indian Ocean in a rickety old AirAsia Airbus, waiting to be presented with congealed Nasi Lemak and wondering why air hostesses (sorry, flight
attendants) blink so much.
I hope you will forgive the navel gazing in advance but what kind of traveler would I be if if I didn’t bore you with how I have found myself. For brevity’s sake I’m writing this as a Q&A, asking myself all those questions you’re just dying to know the answer to.
So Sarah, what was the best thing about your trip?
I don’t think there was one best thing. I loved how arriving in a place and exploring challenged any preconceptions of it, no matter how much research I did before I got there. I loved the way that a place that seemed so foriegn to me when I arrived became so familiar by the time I came to leave.
What will you take away with you?
You mean apart from a limited-edition Vivienne Westwood Mug, a papaya paring knife and the irritating habit of saying ‘Same Same’ to mean whatever I want it to?! I think I’m calmer and more sorted than I was when I left home.
Is this the famous ‘finding yourself’, then?
No…I think I had a pretty good idea of myself already, but I did realise when I was away that there’s no need to stress about things. There’s an inevitability about life and the responses it needs from you that takes the need for what ifs out of the equalition. You deal with things as they come to you.
Any regrets?
In a way I regret not carrying on to all the other places I wanted to go: Java, Bali, Flores, East Timor, Mongolia, Korea, the Philippines; BUt I guess I’ll just have to come back.
What were your top five places on the trip?
In no particular order: Bukit Lawang in Sumatra; Luang Prabang in Laos; Hong Kong; Siem Reap and the temples of Angkor Wat, Cambodia; and Sapa, northern Vietnam.
What will you miss most about Asia?
The food, the sunshine, the freedom.
And what won’t you miss?
People with no concept of personal space or hygiene, exhaust-pipe fume baths, roaches.
What are you looking forward to most at home?
Sausages! Cheese! My friends and family. Parties, the theatre.
And dreading?
The weather, of course.
What now for Sarah and for the Travelog?
I originally planned for a year away so I’d like to think I have 3 months in some temporal bank in the ether waiting for another adventure: possibly
South America early 2011.In the meantime I’m looking for a job, if anyone wants a travel/genealogy writer – look no further. No job too big or small etc. I’m going to freelance for a while and eventually I’d really like to plan and write a travel book. Watch this space!
Sarah can be contacted at sarahwarwick@gmail.com
