Europe, for All it’s Worth

Today, the moment has come, where I commence my epic backpacking trip to Europe. It will be two of us, Jasper and I, and will span four countries, twelve cities and fourteen UNESCO World Heritage Sites. I think it is going to be epic, and as far as epic trips are concerned, there was quite a lot of planning involved.

The planning started in November, even before I left my service in the army. We had the idea bubbling within our heads and we just had to find the dates. No one else could commit with the same amount of time, capital and intensity as the both of us, so it turned out that two would be the magic number. It wasn’t easy to source out all the dates, travelling times, attractions and various accommodation. All these logistical issues had to be resolved, and as a total stranger to these matters, to start with Europe was really intense.

This planning spanned the next three to four months. Now it’s really time to go. To take that plane and just fly off into the sky. I wanted to embark on this purely for the sake of travel. That was in the past, during the inception of this trip, where we were stifled and repressed by the army. A lot of things were denied to us so all we could do was wait for the hour hand to move.

Now that I’ve done so much more in the last few months after army, the purpose of this trip has evolved. Recently I’ve been becoming increasingly flustered and edgy for no particular reason. It was as if I was observing myself from a third person point of view. Physically I was there, but I felt like a separate entity, more concerned with the virtual world. I checked my phone a lot and couldn’t help but feel like this was not how it should be.

Now this is no longer just for the sake of travelling. In my bag are a bunch of random plain shirts, an empty notebook and a whole lot of brand new toiletries and a fresh new passport. There are no army shirts, school shirts, nothing anchored in the past. This trip has become the ticket for me to lose myself, to just go out there and explore, with my mind as fresh as hand picked lettuce. I think we all need that once in a while,to really go out there and get hopelessly lost.

So I’m glad, that we have the world to discover, a world that brings along so much promise when you’re viewing it in your early twenties. There is much to learn out there, and we’ll have no choice but to take it all in.

See you all, it will be a blast!

Bon voyage to us.