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Published: October 7th 2006
during the trip
Hagit's father marked a pin on the map in his study each time we arrived to a new place Hagit:
Deciding to go on a long trip was difficult for me since I didn't know what I am going to go through and if I am going to like it. All I knew was that I want to do it and that it is better be good because I postpone a school year for that. When we started the trip, 5 months seemed like a very long time for me. I drew a time table on a little notebook and draw "X" after every day. Suddenly I found that the trip is almost over and that 5 charts are almost full with "X". I also found that I don't want to go back home. I was especially surprised by the feeling that we can continue traveling for 5 more months.
Traveling was an eye opener for me. Learning how other people live, watching religious rituals, eating authentic food, being separated from the civilization in different occasions and in remote areas, overcoming difficulties and enjoying the pleasure that follows…
While back home, nothing much happened and people continued their normal life, our lives kept changing every day, places, people, countries, everything was new and
Flags
flags that were added on this trip to Yaron's flag collection. it is now up tp 34 flags interesting. Well, I learned that Life on the road is exiting and so unique.
When returning, I talked to a friend that asked me what I learned in the trip, well, first of all, I learned that I like being a backpacker! It enables you to travel to rural areas and see how people really live and not as it is shown in the tourist places. I learned that there is more in the world than just "Classic Europe". I learned that all trips are good and worthy, and that being a backpacker is not better than traveling in museums and bazaars around a city you have never been to before. It is all good and all precious! One just has to find the right combination between them and enjoy it all.
I am not preaching here that traveling is the best thing in the world, but I think that once in a while we should depart from the routine and find ourselves in a new and exotic place.
I also learned that partnership and couple hood are things that can grow better each day, and that it was the secret ingredient
unpacking
some of the souvenirs from the trip. that made this trip so special and good.
Well, I hope that all the insights that I discovered about myself and about "backpacking" will not fade away until we decide to go on our next trip…
If it does, please remind me to read this last blog again in 2-3 years, so I can remind myself what is important in life. Yaron:
Suddenly it starts Compared the wedding preparations - the trip preparations was something we didn't notice. Got a few shots. Bought some equipment, tickets and books. And packed our bags. I continued to go to work till the last day. Did the same things. Met friends and family. Drove my car. Wore my cloths. Slept in my bed.
We boarded the flight to Hong-Kong almost as if it was one of the other 10 business flights I did in the past 3 months and tried to go to sleep.
Then we landed. And got our bags. Got out of the airport and WHAM we are not in Kansas anymore
Suddenly we were
at the airport
meeting Hagit's parents hit on the head. The people were different. The language was different. We did different things. The weather felt different. We were using public transportation. We were away from home sleeping in a backpacker's hostel. We were together all day long. In an instance our way of life had changed. Although the trip was in the planning for a year, that first day came as such a surprise for us.
It took us a few weeks to get the rhythm of traveling till it became our life but the trip suddenly started without notice the day we landed
Wake me up when September ends Starting mid-August we started doing something we didn't do in the months before. We started being aware of the time we have left. We checked the calendar on a daily basis formulating a day-by-day plan and changing it every day. We were very aware of exactly what we plan to do. Only one thing was missing.
We had no plan at all for October .
We boarded the flight home almost as if it was one of the other 10 internal flights we
at the airport
not trip related but if you read Hebrew this sign is hilarious did in the past 5 months and tried to go to sleep.
Then we landed. And got our bags. Got out of the airport and WHAM there is not place like home?
And the colors of the movie disappeared again Cut and Paste feeling Immediately we got the feeling we have not left Israel at all. We met our family, went to work, and bought a new car. And all around us things did not change at all. One of the things that struck me is that after 5 months not driving a car I got into the driver's seat and started driving without giving it a second thought. The roads and scenery were so familiar the car drove by itself as if it knew the way.
I had always knew that traveling had no long term physical effect but after 24 hr we were totally unpacked, fed, dressed in "normal" cloths and we had a feeling the we had left a week earlier. It was as if 5 months never happened.
Riddle solution
The solution to the riddle from the last
before the trip
we had a countdown with things to do before we leave. when we returned it was still on the refrigerator door entry - how to bring over 70kg home if your flight weight allowance is only 20kg per-person?
First we throw away all the worn out t-shirts from the trip and the 2 big bed-sheets we used in all the dirty hotels.
Second, you stuff your carry on bags with as much as you can.We put in the carry-on all the books, wooden souvenirs, rain gear. This way the bag was heavy but it didn't look suspicious so it will not be weighted. We each took 12kg that way.
Third, we wore all our heavy warm cloths. We put on our hiking boots. Long pants and wrapped the flelis coats around our wisest. We looked like we were going to travel back to Tibet instead of going to Israel
We still had about 48kg in 3 bags. When asked to put them on the weights I put is so that the heaviest bag was on top and it was leaning on the adjacent counter. So the total weight measured was only 39kg and we were home free J
blogging
One of the absolute
after the trip
Saturday afternoon. a day after returning we were at the Yam bar in Hartzalia. like every summer Saturday afternoon of the past 2 years best experiences of this trip was writing this diary. It made us very aware of our experiences. Every time something interesting happened we wrote it down in our little red notebook so we would not forget to write about it. And when a fabulous place we visited was hard to photograph we still took the time to get it right because we knew someone will see the effort.
Every time we wrote something we had someone in mind. Sometimes family, sometimes one of Hagit's friends, sometime one of Yaron's friends and sometimes for a random reader that might see this blog. We didn't expect many people to actually read the whole thing but we are very grateful for those who did and those who wrote comments. The first thing we did when we got to an Internet-café was see if someone commented on the last entry. The second thing we did was see how many people read our blog since last time we checked (about 2000 hits month). Only after we did that we checked mails.
We were very happy when we saw that our blogs were being published on the front page of
travelblog.org after the trip
sunset at the Yam bar in Hartzalia. same or diffrent then the sunsets on the trip? . It was a reward for us for the effort we put into the blog and a way to share our travel with more people.
We hope you enjoyed reading as much as we enjoyed writing.
And we hope we made you jealous with our photos and descriptions like we are of people that are traveling while we are at home J
plan
Traveling is addictive. Anyone with the bug can imagine how we feel in the first week at home. Traveling is not only great fun and relaxing or way to gain perspective on your own life at home. It becomes a way of living that is an alternative to regular life. In life you are usually very little in control of you day to day life and hence your control is on the big "life-decisions" you make once every few years. Good thing in life happen in long slow time-frames and only bad things happen fast. Traveling is the opposite. You have no constraints and so you make decisions that change your course every few days. And you are also
after the trip
sunset at the Yam bar in Hartzalia. same or diffrent then the sunsets on the trip? rewarded very quickly. Although you have difficult moments - good things happen fast as well. Traveling also feels healthier. Fresh air, sun and relaxation just feels better then driving to you cubic each day.
Many people say that traveling opens their eyes to how big the world is and how much there is to see. Many people site this is the reason for going on more trips. In this trip I actually learned the opposite. That the world is small and if you apply yourself for a few years of traveling you can pass all the "gringo trails" of the world and even path some of your own trails. The encouraging thing is that it is possible but you have to have a plan.
One of the ways to keep focused and optimistic after returning is having a long term plan. Like any plan it is a base for change but if all goes well this is our plan …
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DAYS
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HOURS
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Till our next Trip!
We hope to write more entries then….
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Daniel
non-member comment
Bravo!
excellent journey wonderful ending. cant wait for you guys to get back on the road!