‘Tas the night before the flight, and all was thought to be packed. A t-shirt and some shorts, there was nothing that lacked. My bag, placed neatly by the stairs with care, anxious for the journey that it and I would soon share.
Okay, that is as far as my rhyming skills extend (thankfully). It is the night before the flight, and my bag is packed, though with nothing but the bare essentials. I am about to embark on my first proper adventure. Six weeks exploring the sights, smells and tastes that South-East Asia has to offer. For me, six weeks sounds like a lot (seeing as I have never been away from home for that long before), but I am excited to catch the so-called ‘travel bug’ that so many talk of, which induces symptoms such as doubt regarding the need or necessity to shower, an overwhelming acceptance that medications such as gastro-stop are to be taken on the daily, and a general reluctance to return home. But most importantly, the ability to describe the previous few weeks/months, as the best of your life.
I have spent the year studying and working (albeit, working at the cafe is often so much fun it tends not to feel like work). My Facebook feed has been full of albums and posts from friends boasting and flaunting their overseas travels. One day, in the middle of a very interesting lecture on the nature of policy and governance I decided that enough was enough and that I needed to travel. What better time to do this, I thought, than the Christmas holidays, when everyone else was returning from their trips, so I could repay the favor of spamming their news feeds with ‘from where you’d rather be’ posts.
So here I go. Come get me, travel bug.
Where in the World 