I'm grateful for having being born into this generation, in the UK, in the background I was

---

It seemed tourism was quite new to Bolivia, unlike in countries such as Argentina and Chile. I thought a lot about the newness of the Bolivia and how it is only just developing itself, deciding its politics, marking out its boundaries and assigning land to various parties. This made me consider how hard our great grandparents must have had it, growing up in lawless countries at a time when laws still hadn’t come into play. I was grateful for having grown up in the UK at the time I had. I felt that if I’d have been born in my Mum’s generation I would have EXPECTED to have security for life and worked so hard just to get my pension, if I’d have been born into my Grandma’s generation I would have been resilient but obsessed about avoiding poverty, and therefore more interested in acquiring objects rather than living experiences. Our generation don’t expect to have it all, we do our best in the circumstances (at a time when there aren't many jobs), we can live light on our feet because owning property doesn't make sense right now and not having job security gives us a chance to take risks by accepting new opportunities and therefore grabbing new opportunities. I think deep down many people from our generation know that pensions, owning cars and owning houses are a thing of the stone age, something our grandparents used to do, things that won't come into fashion for a long time, they'll die out like the dance of hand jive did.

Our generation are free of this awful pressure to waste time on saving up for material goods and I am so grateful. I also recognise that I'm lucky to be from the background I’m from and probably without generous family support I wouldn't have had chance to save up for this trip. I feel privileged for having this trip. It's made me re-evaluate what I want to dedicate the rest of my life to,. I want to use my experience to benefit others and not just for myself, . I'd like to do it in many ways, for example I want to share my ideas and knowledge of what I've seen with the people back home. After all years ago sailors did a similar type of thing, they explored the world and brought ideas from their own culture to other countries and imported 'foreign ideas 'to their home countries. They used the knowledge they had to further and develop their own society. I want to use the rest of my time on earth to change things for the better.

---