After a Long Travel, how do you Adapt?
One thing that I found myself doing before I left for the Tour d’Afrique last year, was checking out peoples blogs from previous years. I had often wondered what they did with their lives after such an incredible experience. I wanted to know if 4 months on a bicycle can really be a life changing experience.
I never did find my answer. Most people stopped writing in their blogs, never to be heard from again. I refuse to let that happen, and I want to let all of you know that it is a life changing experience. As many people know who followed along with us in Africa. The Tour d’Afrique was not one of my favourite moments in life. It was difficult. I was ill for a lot of it, I contracted a serious knee infection, and I felt like I was missing out on seeing Africa because we were doing such high mileage each day…
However, once you come home from something like that, you realize just what an accomplishment it was and how the experience was an extraordinary event that very few people on this earth get the chance to do. That changes you somehow. It changes your outlook on life, on your work and on your friends and family.
I missed everyone dearly while I was in Africa, but now that I am home, I feel that I was closer to them while I was away. Our words to each other had more meaning while we were away. We appreciated each other more. Now that we are home, we are all busy with work and day to day life and it always seems that we think that we have all the time in the world to say what we feel or to visit one another. With the world shrinking so much with Skype, cell phones, internet, you can stay connected (even more connected) while you are away. I say even more because when we are travelling and isolated from people at home, there is a need to really talk or write to everyone at home. I noticed that people genuinely wanted to communicate with us also.
There is truth to the saying “Absence makes the heart grow fonder” While working at home or sitting on the couch watching Survivor, we become numb to everything and don’t think about giving people a call just to say hello. Being out in the desert or in the middle of the jungle makes you long for the people in your life and the first thing you want to do when you get back to civilization is tell them that. I think that everyone on earth should go through at least 30 days of solitude without a TV, Playstaion, automobile…just to see how much more connected to the earth and universe you become.
Dave once said during the tour that he loved the simplicity of it all. Yes it was hard, but he knew what he had to do each day without fail and then he was left to his thoughts while he did it. We are so cluttered here in the West. All of the developing countries want to be more like us, but if they only knew that they really have it going on. That many of us here feel an emptiness that we can’t quite put our finger on. We have everything, but something is missing and I think that something is a connection to Mother Earth. I truly believe we are connected, but we can’t feel it because we have so much clutter. Airwaves, electricity, tv, etc. It is cluttering our beings.
The human race has survived for Centuries without electricity and gasoline, so why are we relying on it so much now? Why do people in developing worlds suffer without modern devices when they have lived that way in the past without a problem? It is a complicated problem with no solution. I am guilty in this as well. I love my computer, I love talking to people when I am on the other side of the world, I love keeping in touch and having airplanes taking me to the far corners of the earth. I love the modern world, yet I long for simplicity. What a place to be.
So how do you rejoin the modern world once your whole outlook on life has changed? The answer is you don’t.
So that is why, we are taking off again whether our travel show goes or not. We are going to go to all of the places that we pitched for our show and blog and write about it, just as we would for our show. Doing the challenges, adventures and storylines that we are planning for the show. We feel unfinished, and must complete our journey before we can really re-join the real world again.
5 Responses to After a Long Travel, how do you Adapt?
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Hi Dave, hi Deb!
You know, it really is hard to integrate back into day-to-day life. When I stopped ‘running’ in at the end of 2007, my decision wasn’t to go back home to Australia, as I wasn’t ready to go home home. I too, would have felt really unfinished, and almost cheating myself a bit.
As an avid snowboarder, my heart and soul belong to the mountains. I made the compromise to settle somewhere (sick of living out of a bag!!!) but still have access to what made me truly feel alive. So I came to Calgary. And although I love it here, I did struggle with getting back into the day-to-day grind. I restarted my career in January 2008, and by August I was starting to feel the 8 month itch – it was the longest I’d been in one place in years, and I started to question myself – is this what I really want, am I really happy, and so forth. It wasn’t until my Mum came to visit in October, and I got to proudly show her my life and love for the mountains and Alberta, that I realised that YES I am happy!!
Maybe you guys need to reach a compromise of some sort – where could you settle for a *while* (read not forever) that will allow you to continue your journey and learn these amazing life lessons, while sitting still for a bit?
Just some food for thought. I hope you can find what you are looking for. No doubt when you do, it will be your very own heaven on earth!
Namaste,
Laura
I empathise with your experiences, I traveled for 2 years before settling in Wellington, New Zealand which made reintegration a bit easier. I lived life there for another 2 years before returning for a few months to the UK in recession which I found to be a real challenge.. The challenge of travel is seeing the freedom available, and asking what we really want in life, and knowing that is really most important of all..
Blessings,
George
Thanks for the comment. I think, settling in somewhere other than home for awhile is a great way to do it. It is going home that is the hard part. It’s that darn money thing that keeps getting in the way though.
Hi all, hope u had a wonderful day!! i just returned from a 5.5 weeks crazy aswesome trip from the US, i hiked by meslef (a 1st to hike) all the way to the bottom of the Grand canyon, afterwards i went to rejuvinate on a farm in Nashville TN, then the mpost amazing forest and volcano trip up in Seattle, all to be toppled by burning man in the nevada desert. i closed out by visiting San Fran, well only the bridge and some forests around.
Now im back and i cannot adjust (perhaps will not). i want to be free and experience life man, not corporate shite, so its soo bad rite now that i have tummy pains and seem to be depre, what could i do??? i was thinking to just pack up and do some work and travel or do some rescue diving abroad, point is im not coping with this ruled in life anymore?
Namaste, have a wonderful journey.
Riana Smit
Hi Riana, you echo what many people feel after a life changing experience. You probably will never go back to your old way of living. When your eyes are open to a new experience, it inspires you to try new things and take on a new direction. I am sure that as you settle in, you will start to feel better and soon come up with ideas on how you can be inspired at home and work travel into you life. Good luck getting back into the swing of things!