#travelpause

[charmillington]

The gift of being temporarily snowed in

I had to hit pause for a moment this week in our gorgeous Victoria, and let me tell you why. Picture this: an unexpected snowfall turned our city into a dreamy winter wonderland, and I couldn’t help but think, “Wow, I travel so much, I frequently forget I live in one of the world’s most beautiful cities.” Normally, I’m all about sustainable travel hacks and empowering my fellow solo female…

[kisaso]

Went out with a #wideanglens to capture some #gulmohar #mysore Roads were empty, 5:30pm looked like 5:30am . . . #lockdown2020 #mysore #socialdistancing #gulmohartree #notravel #notravelvlogs #travelbreaks #travelpause #takingabreak . . #Travelblogger #kisaso #instatravelgram #instatraveller #indiantravelblogger #indianvlogger #indiantravelvlogger #kishore #kishoreasokan Visit youtube.com/kisaso for my travel videos (at Mysore, Karnataka) https://www.instagram.com/p/B_eC-3ADv90/?igshid=17rw0sfghg5sx

[ninks]

Back in NZ

The last blog I wrote was nearly a year ago, when I was at a cross roads of where to go and what to do. I literally crossed off my options - eliminating the ones I least wanted to do, ending up with moving back to Bonaire (a Caribbean island off the Venezuelan coast). I initially had gone there in April 2016, because my friend Marsha was living there at the time. She knew I was looking for a volunteering opportunity back then and told me to come over because there was a donkey sanctuary where they were looking for volunteers (she knows I love animals). So I went back there again in October because I was out of money, didn’t want to be in Europe in winter time and another friend from Bonaire had invited me to stay with them while looking for work. Bonaire sounded very inviting: the weather is always warm, the beaches are beautiful and I can legally work there because it is considered a special Dutch province and I am a Dutch citizen. The silly season was about to kick off too and there was a lot of hospitality work available so why not! I ended up staying on Bonaire for 9 months, and I did have a lot of fun. Bonaire is very much a party island, no matter what day of the week it is and it is just too easy there to kick back and do as little as possible (apart from bringing a bottle of beer to your mouth and remembering breathing regularly). I lived in a fun house with a swimming pool and a great flatmate and I snorkelled, sunbathed, socialised and drank too much, too often. All my family ended up coming to visit as did a few friends. As well as 6 kilos I gained a few very good friends, one in particular for whom I will have to travel back if she ever decides to get married (stupid drunken promises are stil promises nonetheless!)

As nice as that all may sound, I hated my boring and uninspiring job and I detested the horribly arrogant, money-grabbing people that I worked for. I kept thinking how I was too old and free to be doing a job I loathed. Life is way too short for that kind of time wasting and if you spend so much time working, you have to enjoy what you do or else you are doing it wrong. I always preach to people that when you’re not happy, you should make a change and yet here I was doing something that did not make me happy at all.

Life is expensive on Bonaire and wages are low, so saving was out of the question. Furthermore, as hard to believe as this may sound, I was getting bored with the island lifestyle. You do eventually get bored of the same parties, events, activities and beaches - there is so much more out there while you are still young (ish) and agile (ish)! It also felt a bit like I was trapped; if you want to get somewhere from Bonaire you have to fly to another island first, from where there's a limited number of  international flights to other airports from where you may eventually get to where you would actually ike to go. Maybe when I am ready to retire I might move back to Bonaire or one of the islands there and enjoy it more, but right now was just not the time for me. Life felt more like an extended holiday than an actual life and I continuously felt I was missing out on the rest of the world. Most of all, I missed South America so much that it ached (I still do, actually). Marsha, who had been responsible for getting me to Bonaire the first time around, now told me about a job she had spotted online somewhere which she thought might be right up my alley. She knew I was getting itchy feet and she knew this job was something I would be interested in doing. The job was back in New Zealand though, which was a bit of a mission getting to. Nonetheless I applied and I was hired, and needed to start ASAP. So again, this person that I had initially met a few times in South America when we worked for the same company, had now become a good friend and unintentionally had been responsible for changing my walk of life a second time around (albeit temporarily, that goes without saying)!  I find it very inspiring how chance meetings with certain people can affect the direction in which the next part of your life can go. If you are willing and open to changes and a bit of an adventure, chance meetings can turn into friends for life and into experiences of a lifetime. Every single contact you make has a potential to open certain doors that otherwise would probably not even have been visible to you. So here I am, back in New Zealand, on the other side of the world and on the other end of the country from where I used to live. I admit I am very much in two minds about that at the moment: don't forget it is in the middle of winter here right now and I am not a fan of cold weather as it is. Also to be doing an office job (I now work as a South America  travel specialist, creating itineraries for potential customers) after the ultimate freedom is a bit of a blow to the system but settling in would have been hard anywhere, and I can always go back to being a nomadic tourleader/traveller/whateverer eventually. For now, this was a wise choice rather than a heartfelt one - career-wise I can learn a lot from what I do now that may help me later on. So right now I need to just suck up my blues and get on with it. It is spring only 5 and a half weeks from now (not that I am counting down or anything), there's already been lots of meet ups with old friends since I got here, and far more to come so it's all good. We just need the weather to turn and the days to get longer and life will turn much brighter already :)  Hey and whaddayaknow, as I typed this last sentence the sun just came out! Arohanui :)