From a spoilt to the postcard backpacker
A moment lived in Thailand by Kate, a traveller from Czech Republic
“Wow, you’re cool! Alone? Are you crazy? To travel 6 weeks in oriental SE Asia! You’re really good! Is it ever safe for a woman? Well mainly, that you survived, the plane did not fall with you, nobody robbed you, raped etc.” The most common reaction of the family and friends of mine to the question how I enjoyed my trip to the other side of the globe. “And didn’t you travel there to see a friend?” It’s possible to make a life decision within 24 hours? I will be traveling alone and enjoy it BUT what if!? Also, can you think of a million reasons why not? I had about a thousand of them that were running through my head. My brain paths worked at 120 %. Then I saw myself in my mind how I will go defeatedly back to the Czech Republic.
BUT I’ve faced a life challenge! ME, the first time ALONE in Asia! God, maybe I’m crazy?! I collected the last bits of courage to take a deep breath. I let the feel of the thrill from the unknown flow through my body, the feel, which has been ruled by a fear so far. How big of a little fool am I, I have no idea at the moment. I’m lovingly opening my heart to the knowledge of a new country culture. My steps lead me forward into the unknown across the bridge of fear. I didn’t have an idea where I will sleep tomorrow, who could cross my path and where the wind will take me. I only knew one thing. It will never be the same from right now at this moment.
It is late afternoon. The sun burns white beach and I’m sitting in a cozy beach bar, where I’m enjoying a delicious fresh coconut cocktail. Like the waves gently impinge the coast of the island, the birds twitter and form a common siren with the sound of ocean effervescence. So I am smoothly letting my thoughts kidnap me away into the past. “The 1994 has been written. My puberty during the fame of the musical band Kelly Family. How surprising was the fact that I had done far crazier things, just so I could follow their concert tour through Europe daily. I used all transportation options, including hitchhiking. I loved the feel of freedom and space when you did not know, who you will meet, what you will discover, where you will unfold the sleeping bag to go sleep that evening. The following 10 years, I have dreamed about satisfying this feel again. “
“Madam, madam…” From the deep contemplation, I am awakened by the impulse of the waiter. I am given another great chilled coconut cocktail. The sips of coconut milk are so delicious that it’s easy to forget about the outside world. Again I am immersed in the thoughts about the decisions in the past few weeks… “And now, after 10 years, when I was standing face to face in this chance, I was paralyzed with fear. But why was that? Perhaps because I am an adult? As we get more and more mature and advanced, we deal with unimportant things. We are accustomed to our convenience in the comfort zone. Our point of view of courage is controlled more by head than by heart…” I’m sipping the last sip of the coconut milk. I know that my decision was correct. I listen to the heart more, my heart, the heart that experiences my joys but also worries with me daily. I do not regret for a second! At the same time, it has been the craziest and coolest step forward on this fateful crossroads of life. I have gone beyond my comfort zone to find freedom of my life story. The story that I want to write with a pen filled with the experiences that I lived in the moment, here and now!
The sun slowly conjures a symphony of colors on the surface of the ocean. I am cheating on my favorite coconut cocktail with a delicious mango shake. Traveling in a backpacking style, with eliminating extra kilos to the minimum necessary evil on my back, it is a wonderfully liberating feel. Nothing ties you up. You are as free as birds. But it does not change the fact that I like giving gifts to the family and friends of mine, the souvenirs from my travels. I am coming back to the roots of our grandmothers, several decades back, to the days when the world was ruled by the postcards. “Still two hours remaining until the departure of the night bus”, I’m telling myself. The heart is already crying with Thailand-sickness, the time to send the last postcards from Thailand. I’m pulling a couple of them from my backpack. With the pen in my hand, I’m hardly pushing a glistening tear in my eye which falls and rolls down on the last postcard. Tomorrow morning it will only say from Malaysia. I feel in my heart that I’m not giving my last bye from Thailand.
At the time of the advanced technology, where everything is carried mostly electronically, I forgot how a little thing, such as a postcard, can make you happy and create a smile up your cheeks after a very bad day. When out of nowhere, from a mailbox, something other than a bill to pay falls out on you, it really feels priceless. Every new adventure is asking for more and more of them. When your grandmother calls to you, how it conjured up a smile on their cheeks, it warms my heart for a long time :)
This traveller has a blog : Cover the Road
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