Travelling

I seem to spend a lot of my time thinking about, reading about talking about and writing about travelling.

Only the other month I found out that I am not the first person in my family to visit Colombia, as my uncle and aunt went there a few years back.

Neither am I the only person I know who has made plans to travel around the world. Plenty of people I know have taken years out and went backpacking across entire continents, and one guy that I occasionally catch the same train home told me just last week that he had successfully made three world trips.

My friend David has been to Timbuktu, and one of the consultants at work is so well travelled that he has gone to USA over seventy times, that's three times more visiting just one country than all the countries I have even been to in my entire life.

Now admittedly all these other people are older than me, with my uncle and the consultants both well into their retirement, but the truth of the matter is, I will never be the most travelled person I know unless I become a hermit or devote my entire life to doing nothing but travelling for the next thirty years of my life.

Is this such a bad thing? No, not really. Life is not all about being the world best at anything, or at lest not for me, it is about the journey. I could give up everything I know and do nothing but travel until my feet drop off or I really do become the most travelled man on the planet, but what sort of warped achievement would that really be.

Unless I have some great stories to tell, a few cracking photos to display AND some good friends and family willing to listen to me, in the end what will it all have gotten me!?!

In 100 years time, who would care that Dickon Springate surpassed all other men and travelled to every country on the entire world?

Would I be hailed as a revolutionary and spiritual guru with big marble statues erected in my honour, or be ridiculed as a lonesome wandering bum never recorded as doing anything worthwhile except juggle a myriad of passports or be able to ask "At what time does the train leave?" in a dozen different languages?

No, as I have said before, for me life is a journey not a destination. I have always intended to enjoy the ride and get as much out of it as possible, but to make it the only thing in my life would be to have made a wasted journey.

And so, although I am not handing in my passport just yet, I am considering exchanging my wandering shoes for something a bit more comfortable.

When Your Handed A Lemon...

Just a quickie this time round, but I wanted to share one of my favourite quotes, and this one goes a long way in explaining why I always try to make the best of even a bad situation.

 

"I'm a great lover of fresh orange juice, but when they hand me lemons hey, I make lemonade"

 

You see, if your real thirsty and go down to the shops to get some oranges but all you can buy is lemons, you basically got two options :-

 

a) You could piss and moan and complain that you aint got your orange juice, go thirsty and sooner or later the lemons will go off.

 

Or b) ... you can shrug your shoulders, think "oh well, it could be worse" then carry on regardless and make a refreshing lemonade to quench your thirst.

 

My trip to Colombia started off as bas as bad could be - delayed flights, lost luggage, alone in  a strange country and let down by those I thought cared for me, and I could have let this get my head down and think of it as a failure.

 

But instead, I refused to let it beat me, made a few adjustments to my schedule, went out and got a new suitcase and clothes, still did all the stuff I normally like doing and ensured that when I made it to Medellin and met up with the good folks out there I enjoyed it as much as I could too.

 

It wasn't what I planned, but I like to think that I made the best of the situation.

 

So ... when life throws YOU a lemon, make lemonade

Images of Colombia