Weeks later, looking back at South America from the comfort of Henry Corson Place, I’d say it was pretty good.
What makes the perfect trip? Is it measured by how much you see and do? How many photos you take? How many drunk stories you have? We all have different reasons for traveling, and different methods of going about it. But we all return home eventually, and pick up where we left off. We share stories and pictures and tell people it was great when they ask, but the real experience can never be shared. We all have different reasons for traveling, and they all enrich the complex tapestries of our own lives. I suppose the perfect trip is determined by how you remember it years later.
I’ve been home for several weeks now, and more than happy to return to familiar comforts. A car, greenery, humidity, safe streets. Some of my first meals back were sushi and chicken wings. Someone asked if it was nice to be able to relax again now that I was back in Canada. Relax? There’s nothing relaxing about things here. It’s a hectic balance of work, family, friends, sleeping. Things were so much easier on the road; for almost four months all I had to worry about were two bags that I could carry. Honestly, the hardest thing to get used to about returning home is the wide selection of clothing to wear, since I’ve been so used to having only 7 t-shirts.
I have a list of places to go back to in South America. And I will someday. But for now it’s awesome to be back home, if a little rainy these days. All I can say is hasta luego.
The worse part has been digesting some 8000 photos from the trip. Some are mine, some were gifts. In the end, I don’t want to see another photo for a long time. Finally, the best 200 or so can be found here.
And I will end with some advice, if the world is still listening after so many words. As I was waiting for my folks at the airport, I wrote some lessons learned in the back pages of my journal, to try to improve for next time.
- Always carry food and booze
- Bring more underwear
- Travel is much easier with the local language
- Bring a small laptop
- Avoid very short airline connections
- Always tip your baggage guy
- A little hesitation can bring a lower price
- Carry small bills and no bag
- Don’t pay for the hostel meal
- Only Skype
- Postcards will eventually bankrupt me
- Sometimes flying is easier than a bus
- Carry two books, playing cards, and a Frisbee
- Bring more drugs (Aspirin, Gravol, Immodium)
- Get three quotes before buying
- Assume everything will get stolen
- If a local musician is playing, leave at once
- Beware of the high, low, and rainy seasons
- If it’s a party town, be in a party hostel
- Learn to cook
- Bring music
- Bring Canadian magnets to thank do-gooders
- Travel on Sundays when all is closed
- Never buy cash from a foreign money exchange back home
