An Era Ends

Monday 1st March 2010, 11.45pm, Tunjung Inn - Kuta - Bali

And just like that I'm sat on a 3rd floor balcony overlooking a swimming pool in Bali. I'll never get over the wonder that is aviation.

It struck me as I was flying here earlier this evening that I have "done" South East Asia. Back in late September when I was seated in the Covent Garden branch of STA travel agency, nervously handing over my hard earned cash, I remember thinking that 3 months was an awfully long time. I naively supposed that in a mere 12 weeks or so I would be able to see and do everything that this part of the world had which was worth my time and money, and that I would probably be relieved come the 1st of March to be embarking upon a different stage of my travels. How wrong I was. I feel like I have only scratched the surface of everything these countries have to offer, this is only the beginning. It's a big, wide world out there, and this corner of it feels bigger and wider to me than I ever could have imagined.

I won't be so apathetically cliche to say that I have "found myself" in South East Asia, because I haven't. I barely know what this too bandied about, pseudo psychological, mumbo jumbo term even means. I do know though, that I found things there which made me happy. Views that took my breath away, histories which drew me to tears, landscapes of indescribable natural beauty, experiences that will sit forever on the first pages of my memory, cultures of richness and diversity, cities of bright lights and hedonistic nights, endless reasons to laugh, conversations to treasure, people who awakened and inspired parts of me I never knew existed, who made me fall in love with human beings all over again, and who now reside in my heart.

Maybe this is all that "finding yourself" really means then - finding other places and people who let you be the best version of yourself you can be. Here's to South East Asia, my deepest of regrets to have left you so soon, my sincerest of thanks for the Gallivanting, and for the Goodness. Not goodbye, just, so long for now.