Tales of a Phototrotter

Reflecting back on the experiences of the past four weeks of travel has taught me a thing or three about accounting for certain decisions during preparations. I’d overlooked the importance of who you travel with and the daily dose of social ‘medicine’ required to keep your mind stimulated whilst abroad. My four weeks of travel felt like the right amount, however not so much in the context of what I had seen and done but more or less to do with who I was with:

Consequently, I felt that that was the most tragic aspect of this holiday.

I surrounded myself with people who shared differing interests; people who weren’t game enough to try outlandish foods; people who wanted to sleep in instead of waking up early on a regular basis to get to the best tourist spots; people who were more worried about their looks than immersing themselves in the culture of a foreign country; people who were not receptive with any kind of obstacles that travel put forth; people who did not speak the local language (though that’s not the major issue); and people who could not appreciate the little niches of joy that travel should bring to those who seek it. To put it brutally, they felt like dead weight (at times) who I had dragged the lengths of the paths I had drawn out. And here I was, seeking for constant reprieve, wherever I could, from the responsibilities I was constantly drawing myself into for the inadequacies of those I traveled with.

And as a result, that lack of maturity left me both frustrated and disconcerted. I was burnt out. There were things I had wished to do which were bridled with and often needed to be compromised in order to facilitate everyone’s demands. However, that’s not to say that I had a terrible vacation, but at the same time it could’ve been that much better than it already was.

Those I travelled with were not so much trouble-makers, though neither would they succeed if I were to conduct a compatibility test. They were simply just the wrong piece of the jigsaw - fit for another type of a puzzle.

So by now, most readers of this blog post would know that the moral of the story is to choose your travel partners wisely. However, it’s often the finer details of one’s interests, habits and temperament that often cause the most trouble between travellers - aspects of one another you presume are similar (that obviously aren’t) that eventually lead to friction and even dissidence. Suitable travel partners are hard to come by - which explains why so many people prefer to travel independently - but to find one is an appreciable asset to hold onto.