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A Journey Begins
- Ruby-Anne Birin
- Dec 13, 2014
- 2 min read
A true travel journey begins months before one even takes the first step of boarding a flight. It begins before the booking, before the destination is set. A journey begins with the change of mindset that makes you want to be put out of your comfort zone, challenge your perceptions, discover yourself. But once that mindset is achieved very little will quench your thirst for discovery than exploration itself.
The booking made, details set and the dreaded packing underway the realisation that you will soon be leaving everything that you know sets in. Pre-travel anxiety follows along with a myriad of advice from grandmothers and family friends to the stranger eavesdropping on your conversation. “Don’t take drugs”, “Don’t carry anything for anyone”, “Don’t do anything that I wouldn’t do.... NO WAIT!”. Most of this advice is considerate and wanted but being reminded about what to do in an aeroplane crash and discussions on whether you would resort to cannibalism in that scenario is not.
Now sitting on the plane those discussions and advice run through my head. I wonder about plane crash statistics at every bump and laugh at my concerns when it is peaceful flying. I think about the internet discussions on how to avoid jetlag; I consider the virtues of this advice and then discard it. I look to my friend Shannon who is sitting beside me and we try to distract ourselves by watching movies and reruns of TV series. We try to sleep in the small economy class seats; for once I am grateful for my small stature which allows me to curl up on the seat. And finally we check the map for our location and distance from our first destination of this trip, Bangkok, Thailand, where in fourteen short hours we will begin our Contiki tour (Asian Adventure).
Like our journey our experiences and expectations began months before the tour. They involve the development of preconceptions from previous tours and the excitement of the unknown. The next fourteen days will show me the side of South East Asia less explored by many tourists. It will expose me to a brand new culture and continent. The journey may have begun months ago but the adventure begins today.
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