Marking my one year anniversary
In what seems like the blink of an eye, the one year backpacking landmark has crept upon my journey and has filled my day with a nostalgic sense of happiness amongst a million other emotions. As I think back about what I’ve experienced in arguably my most life changing year so far, I was overcome with the awareness of how quickly it had flown by. Mentioning this brevity to my closest friend back in England however I was met with a contrasting opinion. Whereas it felt to me like I had left only yesterday, she was quick to remind me how much had happened in this year both for me and for her. And this quickly struck a chord. There is an arrogance that surrounds travelling (and I admit I’m guilty of this myself) of assuming to a certain degree that not much has changed back home. Whist we galavant around the globe on a fast-paced adventure, it is easy to picture the monotonous life that you left behind and the routine that can quickly fill up a year. How awfully arrogant of me, truly. In my defence the image that we draw up in our minds of home, as if frozen in time, offers a safety net for someone lacking in the stability of a permanent residence. Providing one final link to our former years, the thought of rekindling the life you left off is comforting even though this is as far from the truth as possibly could be. Though this year has flown by, my friend reminded me how much has happened for her and how she felt that I left much longer ago. And that’s the real, painful reality. Although my journey has taken me across continents to places where I have gained much more than I ever could back in London, some of my friends journeys have led them to new careers, new homes, a marriage, some children, new tattoos, lots of dramas, break-ups, family holidays, new friends, new lessons and a life as equally as fulfilled as mine - just in different ways. The choices they made, like mine, were theirs alone and they haven’t looked back. And just like that the world that revolves around my travels felt much smaller than I had realised. As it goes today marks one year since I left London with a gut-wrenching fear of the unknown intertwined with a deep-seated urge to see what the world has to offer. Sure, I’ve traversed the globe and lived in hostels, warehouses, squats, rainforests; met people from every continent and experimented and learnt from an array of places. But today also marks a year for every other bloody person I know. In the space of this year my parents have finally started redecorating their house, bought some cat, and finally started living again after having children, my brother has experienced his first painful life changing break-up (he also shaved his head, lol) and my best friend has began to question whether her nursing career is really what she wants to continue doing. I’ve had friends publish books, go on tour with their bands, people start degrees, end degrees, move in with partners and out. So yes today marks a huge hurdle for myself and I know that I have certainly changed since I left English soil, but today I also pay homage to everyone else and how much they have achieved in one long, winding year. Though these journeys take on completely different forms, one thing I can now be certain of is that we’ve all lived.
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Today marks the first time that I leave a city without the intention of ever returning. Like many travellers before me and no doubt countless to come, we head for the bright city lights of Brisbane with the hope of reviving our bank balances during the eternal traveller cycle of either waiting to start our farming with eager anticipation or thankfully escaping the fields after 88 days.
I loosely fit into the second category and will be leaving Brisbane with better savings (though this is somewhat debatable) a tan, a great sense of creative boredom and a group of truly good friends from every corner of the globe. However don’t be one to assume that the past few months have not been enjoyable in Brisbane. The weather is warm, the people are pleasant and if you are lucky (like I have been) you find yourself in one of the few and far between artsy areas of town where someone like me can forge a home. On top of this a good hostel and a stable job meant I was quick to feel comfortable enough to endure some months with the help of a few bags of ‘goon’ along the way. Yet the creative boredom has been overpowering. I’ve felt stifled by the small opportunities that Brisbane has had to offer and long for the stimulation of a city that, in my opinion at least has more of a soul. In Brisbane you quickly risk falling into the trap of working and drinking your way through the year without having actually achieved or seen anything interesting and though it might be a nice city for a family it certainly wasn’t the city for me. What comes alongside my departure is the realisation that I might never see some of my fellow backpacking friends again. Yet as we all drift in various directions each on our own journey, and as I look forwards to restarting my Melbourne life just where I’d left it, I remain grateful to have played a small role in other people’s stories - as they have in mine. As you can see I leave the bright city lights in the rear view of a very early morning drive to the airport with very mixed feelings. Nonetheless as I sit here on the airport floor writing to you whilst finally accepting that the dream I had longed for (my return to Melbourne) is finally becoming a reality I am left with two very powerful thoughts. This unrivalled excitement at my Melbourne homecoming is something that I am yet to feel about London or England as a whole - but a topic that I will address perhaps at a later time. And secondly, deep in the pits of my stomach the recently dormant excitement that erupts only when waiting in a foreign airport has been reignited and the traveller itch has flooded back in full force. I count the days until I find myself in this bittersweet position once again in a mere 6 weeks. |
Tamara DavisonNepal, China, Malaysia, Australia, Argentina. Archives
November 2017
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