DK One

29th July 2001

The lure of Adventure

Money isn't everything my grandma used to say. My reply was always 'but you could buy everything' or at least anything that you wanted. True but I was missing the point entirely. There is a difference between having money and having quality of life.

Thus I found myself several months ago bored out of my mind. And I really mean out of my mind!

For reasons I won't go into on-line, I had already decided not to renew my current contract and was looking around for work elsewhere. Each day I would turn up at work and start looking at the clock to see how many hours were left until I had done today's requisite. A sad way to exist I know. But think of the money! Nah money wasn't everything. Grandma said so.

For a while however it was. I'd cheer myself up by buying new stuff. Whether it was clothes, videos, music CD's or just fancy food. I don't think it was working to be honest. As a contractor you have the freedom to just move on. Also as a contractor you must abide by your contract and with no get-out clause I was stuck here for the foreseeable future.

So one weekend I could be found lying on my couch watching the Indiana Jones trilogy (Another recent purchase). I liked the Indy films because the main character got to travel all over the world having these amazing adventures and exploring tombs (like another character everyone thinks I worship).

Going back

After leaving school I felt that I hadn't really learned everything there was to learn and so I sat myself down in front of my dads old collection of encyclopaedia's and read and read about English history, the history of the world, great explorations and discoveries of foreign places.

When at my Grandmas I would steal away upstairs to my Uncle Kenneth's old room (Uncle Kenneth had long since passed away) and sit down with a book from his small collection. He had a great book on Egypt and another on Venice and from reading them I knew I wanted to go to these places some day.

My Uncle worked as an architect and so he did a bit of travelling in his day. He also went travelling with some buddies when he could afford it. I remember he went to Malta once and came back with all these knick knacks including the star of Malta on a flag that he hung over his bed. Years after he passed away it hung over mine.

Chit-chat around the watercooler

When I get the opportunity I chat to other contractors, the ones that have been contarcting for a while anyway and quiz them on their early days. A few admitted to getting bored with it all every once in a while. What they would do is save up and plan a trip abroad. This relieved the boredom and come the end of their contract, they would take anywhere up to a year or more off and go wandering. It sounded like fun.

So maybe I should do the same?

I started to make a list of places I would like to see, together with the best times of year to visit them and for how long. Soon the list grew.

Talking to several fellow contractors that have travelled extensively, they mentioned around-the-world trips. They used words like 'adventure', 'amazing' and 'exploration' which kinda got me hooked. I visited a few web sites with travelogues by people that had done one and thoroughly enjoyed it. Each day was a new adventure and it was never boring. If it was, you just get up and moved on to some place new.

Anyone who knows me knows that I live with an idea for a while, thoroughly research into it and then get bored of it before I actually do anything. A month later though and I am still in love with the idea. Things have gone from bad to worse at work and its so dull that I find myself sketching possible routes and itinerary's on printouts at work. Time for action.

I weigh up the pros and cons and decide I will do it. My current contract ends at the end of September so from now until then I will plan my trip, plan what I'll take, get my shots and visas and book any flights or tickets I may need. Come mid-September I'll start to sell off all the stuff I no longer need and give the rest to my family except for a few items I'll need to get by. These I will take back home with me and leave in storage along with my car.

It's a plan anyway. I'm sure I will refine it as I go along.

My spirits lifted at this point and I felt better. I had a plan and if I pull it off it would be a lot of fun.

Of course self-doubt crept in. How would I cope travelling abroad on my own? What about extreme temperatures? There are a lot of nasty people out there waiting to take advantage of unsuspecting tourists. And other such thoughts bombarded my mind.

I rationalised the journey as a way to 'find myself'. Sounds weird when you think about it but from some of the travelogues I have read, they put it like this. Travelling around the world, by yourself, taking care of every possible problem on your own, is not only rewarding but it begins to shape your character. You begin to find out things about yourself you never knew. You discover what you can cope with, what irritations you can put up with if the final result is worth it. In total, you find out what kind of a person you are from how you deal with the scenarios that unfold before you on your journey.

Anyway, let's dispense with all this Zen and get down to the nitty gritty. I'm leaving in October and I've set my mind to it. I will do it. I've told enough people now so that I can not back out. It's the ultimate challenge and I can taste it. I want this! I want to wake up every day with something to do that is both stimulating and challenging.

Now, while researching round-the-world trips, the first thing you discover is there are three routes. East-to-West, West-to-East, and Pole-to-Pole. If you need info on these routes check out Michael Palin's videos.

Further investigation reveals that airlines are very helpful in that they provide round-the-world tickets that are pretty cheap. Further research shows this as pretty inflexible. You have to travel on set days or you are penalised. You can not backtrack or you are penalised. You cannot choose your route exactly how you want it to be. No, it is far easier to plan your route and then buy your tickets separately.

In fact if you are not worried about how long it takes you to travel then you may not have to consider too much flying at all. Instead you can opt to travel by train, bus, car, motorbike or even bicycle. You get to see more of the countries you visit and have more money in your pocket to spend in them.

Today

So that's where I am today. Trying to finalise my plans and make some preliminary bookings. My current route looks something like this:

UK - France (Paris, possibly Lyon) - Italy (Rome, Venice) - Austria (Vienna) - Czechoslovakia (Prague) - Moscow (Tran-Siberian railway through Mongolia and China to Beijing) - (gets murky here. I can either go straight to Australia or go via Shanghai or Hong Kong) - Australia (Perth - Alice Springs - Sydney) - New Zealand (Auckland) - (second murky bit as I want to go to Peru so I may have to go to Chile (Santiago) or via Easter Island) - Peru (Machu Picchu) - UK

I may not be able to do this route exactly depending on available flights and land transportation. If I can do without Peru this time around I may be able to go via USA or Canada then back to the UK. I intend to discuss it with booking agents shortly.

Detox

What does this mean for Detox? Well after September the comic will be on hiatus because I will be travelling. I will use this site as a log for my journal entries. I have gathered information on internet cafes around the world so I should be able to type up my notes so you can read up on what I have been up to.

DK

Previous DK One:
23rd July 2001
10th July 2001
8th July 2001
3rd July 2001
5th June 2001
24th May 2001
22nd May 2001
21st May 2001
1st May 2001
8th April 2001
12th March 2001
22nd February 2001
13th February 2001
4th February 2001
23rd January 2001