Outside Context New Zealand articles now on iPhone
The most common question I have been asked by people after returning home is, “which was your favourite country to visit?” For Cesca and I it has to be the majestic New Zealand. Not because it is terribly exotic. as everything is familiar (especially the road names), but rather because it is so much like you wish England could be. The lakes, the mountains, the rivers, the beaches. New Zealand has everything. The people have a real “get up and go” attitude that is infectious. They love their country, they also appear to know who they are and what they want. Living in such a culture is, and I hesitate to write this, idyllic.
Shame I don’t live there then!
Cesca and I have written many articles on the subject of New Zealand and also made a “love letter” of a short-film celebrating the country (found under “films” in the navigation bar). However, I have always wanted to do more to speak of our time driving around these islands.
Well, our wish has come true.
About a two weeks ago I was approached by a company working for Air New Zealand. They wanted to license all our content on New Zealand for use in the official Air New Zealand iPhone app!
I lay on my back and tried to relax. The sound of rolling waves crashed back and forth in the distance, which helped. However, the sun was beating down, heating the air and leaving me gasping like I had my head in an oven. It was also making the sand hot to the touch and the use of sandals more of a necessity than just a fashion statement.
Sandals.
I hadn’t worn shoes for 2 months. A new adult first, meaning that my feet were always dusty; the ever present Indian dirt and sand sticked to my toes. Every night I showered and a torrent of black washed off my feet. I turned onto my side and spied Cesca on the next sun lounger, she was taking in the sun by laying on her front, her bikini open at the back to allow a tan, but – since I had rubbed in some cream for her — no white line or burning. I reached to the table between us and took down my beer and my book. It was called The Master of Go
Then my phone rang. It was my best friend Mark.
I thumbed the screen and the call connected, “Mark!” I exclaimed, genuinely please to hear from him, “It’s great to hear your voice. Where are you?” From over the connection I could hear what sounded like traffic and men talking; the sounds of London. The sounds of home.
“Heyya, I thought I would give you a call,” his voice was raised like he could not really hear me and was compensating by shouting; he must be at work on a building site, “I’m in a man hole at the moment sorting out foundations for a new tube station.”
“Wow,” I said, interested.
“Yeah, it’s for the Olympics and all that. Anyway, it’s cold, wet and horrible and I am down this smelly hole and I thought I could do with cheering up. Where are you?”
What is left after the American bombing of Hue is not much, but it is
still beautiful. The unique and longgone rulers of this golden copy of
Chinese Beijing once held onto pure power. Now it is a relic of a
bygone age, well lost before the yanks power-bombed it. Vietnam is
full of such gems, strange visitors from the past of this most
facinating of countries.
The flat is empty — everything is in storage.
I leave work tomorrow for good — can’t wait!
The bags are packed — full to the brim for a year’s worth of travel!
Basho is going global.
On the 22nd of June, Cesca and I are leaving these shores to go on another adventure:
Bilbo: [voice] It’s a dangerous business, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don’t keep your feet, there’s no telling where you might be swept off to.
We will be visiting Australasia, Indochina, China, India and Japan and are expecting to spend at least a year on the road (but who knows?) The only things we have booked are the flights and will be winging everything else, so it should be a real adventure!
From tomorrow I will be writing an entire new series of articles about this little jaunt. Outside Context will be a true journal with writing, video and photo’s of our travels.
So, what brought all this about?
For Cesca the urge to travel is seemingly in her blood and something totally innate. The question is actually a non-question; why travel?
Why not?
For me it has always been different, for while I have been abroad many times, just dropping out and leaving for a long time has never been high on my “life-list”
But then a few things happened. Not enough in isolation but together they formed a flood. One of my friends got cancer. My Grandfather died. My father got made redundant. Cesca and I struggled to find a happy life in the city. We came into a little cash. The housing market went into insanity (and looks like it’s about to die of a heart attack). The UK continued to become a surveillance state. etc, etc…
So the questions I want to answer are: “Is there a better life out there?” and “What do I want to do with my life?”
Should be nice and easy…
You see, I couldn’t help but notice that many of my friends took a real long look at their life upon turning 30. Almost as if the famous “mid life crisis” had, in my generation, started early. As soon as you hit the-big-three-o. It certainly happened to me and these thoughts continued in me until they built enough inertia to make changes.
Morpheus: I know *exactly* what you mean. Let me tell you why you’re here. You’re here because you know something. What you know you can’t explain, but you feel it. You’ve felt it your entire life, that there’s something wrong with the world. You don’t know what it is, but it’s there, like a splinter in your mind, driving you mad. It is this feeling that has brought you to me. Do you know what I’m talking about?
Cesca and I sat down and had a chat and the wheel of life started turning.
Naturally, I started reading travel books, came across the works of Alan Watts and realised that I had always thought of life with analogy to a journey. A pilgrimage with some sort of big reward at the end and the meaning was to chase that reward until you caught it. Hence I went from school to University and then into work and that led me to the city as the junior member of an IT department and up until becoming the manager in 2005.
But now I see it a little differently and have realised that it is a musical thing and the meaning of life is to dance along the way. So, that is what we shall be doing.
No doubt after a year in smelly backpackers’ hostels I will rue that thought!
So, please join with me and share in the upcoming highs and lows of international travel; the delays, the sights, the smiles, the tears, the thoughts and feelings, the new friends, excitement and amazing vistas!
If you have ever wondered if dropping out of the rat race would be more fun, this is your chance to find out without leaving your seat!
Regards,
Basho
