Maps have a strange effect on me. Think hormonal man seeing a hot chick walk pass. My mouth goes dry, my palms grow moist and whatever I was doing before, well I won’t remember what it was.
My mind wanders to Where Could Have Been and What Could Have Been. Rhetorical astral travel if you will. Take away all my epicurean joys, but leave me my passport. Growing up, travel was not something emphasized in the family. “What for? You’ll have all the time in world when you grow up. Now you must study. Career comes first!” This line was reiterated again and again by my
So I worked my part time jobs and gathered my equally broke friends and we would take mini trips. We called it backpacking, which brings to mind tanned, lean men with greasy dreadlocks and exotic accents. The reality was more like finding the cheapest non dodgy places to stay and enduring bumpy bus rides via tickets obtained from dodgy touts at the Pudu Bus Station with our mini toiletry packs and too much underwear (I blame my mother. She always makes me pack something like 3 panties for each day. Good grief. No pervy jokes please).
I only got my passport at the ripe old age of 21. And my first visit was to Australia, to see a man I’d communicated with for 6 months, through much anticipated e-mails, phone calls and even letters. Truth to be told, I no longer remembered what he looked like. All I knew, was I trusted him. And this trust sufficed for a seven hour flight, MYR2,300 of hard earned money and a month of my time.
Of course, it all worked out, since I’m living with him now, but I digress. The point was, I’d never wanted to come here. My goal had been to move to the UK, earn in GBP and spend my weekends in Paris and summers in Italy, Prague, Spain. Then eventually, I’d have the financial freedom and the time that buys, to travel to New York, to Mauritius, to parts of the world I had read and fantasized about, whose Malaysianised cuisine I had tasted.
I’d spend every available moment travelling. As my longer breaks were spent fanning the flames/ embers of long distance relationship, I could only afford the time for quickies in Thailand and Singapore.
Di, K and I had meant to do the quintessential Eurotrip next year. Things seem uncertain but I hope it materializes then.
4 comments:
That's exactly how I wanted my life to be! Work in England, earning GBP and spend my weekends in Paris and summer in Spain and Italy.. I achieved the first bit but I failed in the later.
Just got back from Italy tho and it isn't as cheap as I thought it would be living here and spending there. Still I spend like a couple of hundred Euros which is way off my initial budget.
But definitely, I also want to go to New York and Mauritius or Tahiti and still within my fantasy.
I guess in life, we can always admire what other people is doing but when u come and do it yourself, it is always more difficult that it seems to be...
all hail my role model!
can we bunk with you if we go to uk? haha.
If there is not too many of you, and you guys don't mind abit of travelling into London city, I am happy to have you around!
tq tq!
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