Not itchy feet as in the athletes foot kinda sense but itchy feet in that i havent been to a different continent in about a year and im getting increasingly restless. What I wouldnt give to feel that stifling heat on my face, to feel the stares of the locals by being the only honky in the village, to feel that sense of adrenaline in not knowing what's going to happen to you in the next five minutes.........sigh.
This time last year I was dusting off my backpack and getting ready to head East. Trying to pack economically and fit in a bumper pack of hand sanitiser and a supply of toiletries that would keep Boots stocked for a month was not easy, but it was joyful.
It was the heading off into the unknown, the excitement of not knowing what exactly would happen, the opportunity to discover different cultures and the chance to discover things about oneself along the way. Oh Lord how I yearn for such an opportunity again. I mean Im not asking for much, a month would do. Peru maybe, or Chile. Austrailia or Africa.....some place that involves a long haul flight and atleast five in flight movie opportunities.
Every trip changes your perception of life a bit. People who have come back from travelling always bore their friends about the ah.mhaz.ing time that they've had, be it the time they were in Brazil or Argentina or Paraguay or Cuba or Thailand or Vietnam or Laos or Abu Dhabi or the Bahamas or the United States.....Im glad Im not one of those people.....but you do feel the need to share the experience with folks who make the mistake of giving you a chance to tell your tales.
My current passport expires in 2013 and I want to fill it's pages with as much stamps as possible before it expires.....realistically that's not going to happen this year but perhaps in the next two years....anything could happen.
I need a holiday. I need an adventure. I need the smell of another culture invading my nostrils. I can feel myself getting increasingly flighty and I need to dust off my left over bottles of suncream and to smell like coconuts. I need to leave behind any responsiblity and evade anybody depending on me to conform to normality. I want to paddle in water that is actually tepid. I want to play "guess the meat". I want to get intoxicated on rum and pass out on a hammock......These things just arent achievable in Ireland.
I guess I really am a traveller at heart.
