The Downside of Travelling Long-Term.

I have heard about it. 

I have read about it.

I have been waiting for it.

Finally, it has hit us!

We have got tired.  Really tired.  Tired of moving. 

That is the time in the life of most full-time travellers. If they were honest with themselves.  Mind you, this isn’t the end of doing housesitting and full-time travel.  It is a stage that we have not yet experienced before, and it needs to be dealt with sooner than later.

We have got to the point that everything is “just another” place, another church, another historic site.  The thought of heading down the road to do another 800km roadtrip, a planned visit to another town, becomes “just another”.

That “just another” feeling started to hit us when we arrived in Istanbul, a very busy and in-your-face sort of city, with freezing temperatures and a shortened time to explore due to a stomach virus, which, of course, is another “common” occurrence during travel.

Don’t get me wrong, we were glad that we had the opportunity to visit Istanbul plus another experience of Turkey.  It just wasn’t the way we had planned.  We expected more of ourselves.  Which, of course, is life, isn’t it!

This is not about grumbling about things, it’s my acknowledgement to you all that long-term travel even executed reasonably slowly is not all a bed of roses.

Then came the final nail in that balloon of enthusiasm.

A planned trip in between two housesits for the same people, over here in Turkey.  We had 6 days.  The Grand Plan was to head over to Galloppi, and the thought suddenly became very unappealing.  To be honest, I was disappointed with our lack of energy and enthusiasm.  Then, with more research, we found that many of the monuments had been defaced. With another report stating that they were being restored.  It was another reason not to go.  Then, the thought of two days of travel to spend less than 1 day at the destination.  Buggar that we thought!!

It’s more productive to find a solution.  It is my way of dealing with that BLAH feeling.

It was time to accept these feelings, as it is usually a combination of events and reasons to have negative thoughts about a way of life that is generally enjoyable and will be enjoyable again.  It’s a short-term thing.  We just need more time to be still.  Which we have at the moment.

Time to have time to do nothing, to do the mundane.  Appreciate the simple things in life.  Ignoring those disturbing thoughts, “you must go and do SOMETHING”, that come uninvited upon waking up in a different environment.

Okay, time for action, in a slow way, of course.

Activity relates to doing what we want to do, not what is expected of us.  It will be long walks along the beach together. Doing the “circuit” around the countryside, walking Tequila, the dog, to her favourite watering hole.  For me, it is writing up our travel stories and reading blogs from bloggers I love connecting with, who give me inspiration daily.  Who makes me smile and think. The Squire has his own way of having time out and learning new “stuff”, which is mostly working with numbers rather than words.  Of course, it is time just to be in the comfort of each other’s company.  Thinking of what we have enjoyed during our time travelling together.  I am looking forward to sharing an adventure on the canals in the Netherlands during late summer with friends from New Zealand.

Connecting with people we know and making new friends along the way is very much an essential and enjoyable aspect of our lives.  Especially connecting with family and friends back home; we do indeed miss them.

You do need to be a particular type of person to enjoy long-term travel.

We are that type of people, as we are independent and flexible, we can deal with constant change and can spend time alone and also enjoy each other’s company.  Having a goal is so important.  We do have one.  It’s to see and experience more of this diverse world we live in, to meet people and care for their animals, to housesit.

One day in the future,, there will come a time, where constant change and flexibility that goes with long-term travel will no longer hold the magic that it once did.  Travel will always be a part of our lives, though not to the extent it is now.

Until that time and that decision arrive, we will take time out when needed and continue on our journey as contented housesitters and travellers.  As the positives still outweigh the negatives. Who now and again just need to slow down and do nothing at all.  At the moment, it means to merely smell more of those blossoms from citrus trees that are currently in full bloom.

It’s Springtime.

A time for new growth and to learn from old.

To look ahead to all the new things we have yet to experience.

Of course, after this interlude of downtime and smelling the flowers, so to speak!