5 Things I’ve Learnt Being 4584 Miles From Home
Written on January 18, 2008 by Tezza
Being 4584 miles away from home you realise that life is really not that much different. The people, culture and geography may have changed but life is really the same. The locals go to work to provide for their family, parents still want their kids to grow up healthy and happy. And people are generally good and will help you if you are lost which happens surprisingly frequently for me. Below are some of the lessons I’ve had time to reflect on while being away from the comforts of home.
1. I Don’t Need Much To Be Happy
Traveling and living out of a backpack brings a whole new perspective on living the simple life. I’ve come to realise that the joys of travel is directly proportionate to the amount of stuff you have. The more stuff you bring from home or accumulate on the journey the less enjoyment you will have moving from place to place. I am just as happy, if not happier with my few possessions on the road as I was with my abundance of stuff back home. I think another spring clean is in order when I get back home.
2. Don’t Be In Such A Hurry
Life in Hong Kong is done at a very fast pace. Waiting is not a term embraced in Hong Kong culture. People seem to always be rushing from place to place. The train system affectionately referred to as the MTR has only a few seats provided to commuters which is a mute point considering you rarely wait more than a few minutes for a train.
Eating during the weekday lunch hour you’ll find an abundance of high strung and stressed office workers rushing to eat their lunches before heading back to the office. Even at breakfast one morning I found myself sitting near an elderly gentleman who in between glances at his newspaper was berating the wait staff over the time it was taking to get his breakfast out. It seemed to matter little that the small restaurant was full and that the wait wasn’t that long in the end. Chances was this elderly man didn’t have any pressing plans for the rest of the day anyway. If your always in a hurry in life you’ll miss all the wonderful moments life presents.
3. You Don’t Need To Always Know Where Your Going
There has been a great deal said about the need to have goals and to plan your life. A multitude of seminars and books are available to help the seeker with all manners of goal setting methods and time management strategies. Being a planner by nature myself I can certainly appreciate the need to have goals but I think sometimes we can go to far with planning and not spend enough time just letting life unfold in it’s own natural timing. We try to force things to happen and nature just doesn’t work that way.
If your always tweaking your time management software, writing to-do lists and planning for the week ahead then maybe it’s time to let go that need for control and just realise that it’s okay to not know where your going and just have faith that everything will turn out alright in the end. That’s not to say that you throw away planning altogether, rather plan the direction you want your life to go and know what you stand for. You don’t always have to know every step of the way to the end to begin the journey.
4. Life Is As Complicated As You Make It
The act of traveling is an exercise in simplicity itself. When you are hungry you look for a place to eat. If you are bored at one place you move on. Much of your time is occupied in getting yourself from one place to the next. Of course if you choose to travel with an organised tour then your daily routine is even more simple. You are told when to eat, when to get off the bus and when you’ll be back to your hotel. All you have to do is wake up when the bus stops at the next site on the itinerary.
Life really doesn’t need to be any more complicated than meeting our basic needs. After all there are still many cultures who live happily on a subsistence lifestyle. We try to over-complicate our lives, falsely believing that a complicated and busy life is a sign of success.
5. McDonald’s Is The Same Wherever You Go
The pervasiveness of American culture and influence is easy to see when you travel around the world. Hong Kong is no different to many other countries. You will readily spot McDonald’s, Starbucks and other well known multi-nationals in amongst the Hong Kong skyline. While the menu at McDonald’s and KFC usually includes local menu items like soup and chicken wings at McDonald’s the rest of the menu is largely the same and a Big Mac tastes the same no matter where your eating it around the world.
With the growing expansion of western culture around the world we are really living in a much smaller planet. People half way around the world know what’s happening on the other side of the world in real time thanks to mass communication. We are all closer to each other than we think and it is naive to think that somehow what happens in one part of the world won’t affect us. Our actions collectively all impact on each other and we need to live more consciously to ensure the survival of all.
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Great observations! I enjoyed reading your article. It is amazing how we think we “need” so much when in reality our “needs” are so much smaller than we think. I have never been on a trip as bold as yours, but even on short backpacking trips, I find the simplicity refreshing and challenging. I look forward to hearing more about your travels!
The best time I had was traveling alone. At first it was scary and I felt like the only one on the planet. However, it made me be more outgoing.
In retrospect, I think I missed a lot of great relationships with all types of people by sticking my head in a book and not talking to the guy beside me on the train, plane or bus. This phase never lasted long and I began to appreciate that most people are great company.
Cheers and happy trails!
Jeff: I’m glad you enjoyed reading the post. Yes I agree with you, I think we are much more resilient and adaptable than we realise. We are conditioned to think we need more than we really do.
Kim: Yes traveling alone does have it’s good and bad points. I’ve only ever traveled with other people prior to this trip whether it be with family, friends or partner. It definitely gets you out of your shell to strike up conversations with people you’d otherwise not if you had someone with you. I’ve also realised that most people especially travelers by themselves are happy to talk with you. People are much friendlier than we realise.
[...] is the spice of life! At 4EvaYoung, Tezza writes about 5 Things I’ve Learnt Being 4584 Miles From Home. She recently started a world trip from her home in Austrailia with her first stop being in Hong [...]
[...] is the spice of life! At 4EvaYoung, Tezza writes about 5 Things I’ve Learnt Being 4584 Miles From Home. She recently started a world trip from her home in Austrailia with her first stop being in Hong [...]