very interesting to read keep them coming. :D

Hi,

Haha so true :D I think to work is wasting your live. I dont need a big flat TV or things like that...i go with my bike to see the world live...out there in the wild its HD and 3D as well ;)

Also traveling can be something like a carrere if you do Slide shows or publish Articels in a Magazine when you back home to earn money for the next trip...

cu, Tobi

my2 cents
 

hello all
just found this.on our journeys towards the end usually ready to come home.
but after being home for a couple weeks ready to go again,start to go a bit crazy.often go back to work to money up for next trip.we try to go on a good trip every other year.so on the off year . we plan for that trip,which
game parks,campsites,lodging,route.also look at expedition vehicle builds.
as long as i am planning and have departure date I can cope fine.I am lucky
to have a job in the pipeline industry.where i can have time off.also worked
on the road for many years with no home or house.it was terrible so now we
keep a home to come back too.
good luck
kevin

greetings
 

When we came back we never really had a chance to settle back in as my (now) wife was diagnosed with cancer and so began nearly two years of treatment. During that time I HAD TO finish editing the book we were writing of the journey. Plus after that journey I found, somewhere along the ways, I had lost the stillness of normality, along with the previous reference points shared with work colleagues - so I bit the bullet and took early retirement to finish the writing and editing.

I originally knew (in 2006) that I would write a book about my wife but had thought it would be (academically) based on aspects of her blindness (yes, she is completely blind).

I never dreamed a motorcycle journey would be the vehicle to tell of her life and disability........... Just goes to show how life has some mysterious and wonderful turns around each corner. Her battle with cancer goes on to this very day and so each and every one is appreciated. Sometimes life can be placed very much into perspective when you least expect it.

You can find the link to our on-going story on this site at http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/boo...nd-25000-miles

Best wishes to you all.

Bernard and Cathy.

I wish the best of luck to the both of you... And I hope your wife is better or on the path of recovery.

Ted

I have made videos of my trip and even looking back to the ones that I made at the start of the trip, really helps me feel like I am being transported back there.

Keep up that positive outlook -it's important. You're right about an unexpected setback like this and how it changes thinking. The day is different in ways which are inexplicable. I can't say much to give you a boost except 'be here now', and never give up. There are many turnarounds from such an illness and I support you in your intention to experience this. I look for your wife (and you) to come through successfully.

Make sure you recharge your own batteries in order to help your wife. It'll give you the strength to continue till you get that break, which is the good news of an improvement. Consider Grant's progress here - I wish it for you too.

I was on the road for nearly 8 and a half years. I dreaded the trip finishing. I'd never been bored, every day had been an adventure, I'd loved riding my bike and I'd kept on meeting amazing people - many of whom made me realise how lucky I was to be able to call the UK home. I still dreaded the end...

But as usual I was lucky and I think that combining the luck with the things I played with at the end of previous long trips, worked.

This was my plan; it worked for me:

• - Never get home broke. It's important to have enough to have a beer or three with mates and to have enough to pay those first few months rent and food money, to be able to fix the bust bits on your bike and pay for the insurance etc.
• - To begin with, don't take on a 9-5 job. That's way too restricting - claustrophobic!
• - Use your weekends to get out and about as much as you can.
• - Make a point of talking to people first - don't wait for them to talk to you. But as you would on the road, be more interested in them than you expect them to be of you. My first year back New Years resolution was 'Make someone smile every day'. I had a lot of laughs. Must try that again : )
• - Learn not to 'bag on' about your trip. The reactions from people who don't have a clue will drag you down.
• - Think about your home country as not being the end of the adventure but as being another country on the journey - just its one that you can stay in for a bit longer. After all, both you and your country will have changed. Interesting.
• - Of course it doesn't hurt to start dreaming and planning for the next trip. Scratches the itch : )

:mchappy:

With smell and taste included.

...the future is scary!
 

thanks Sam for your post above.
Simon and I have now been on the road for what seems an eternity (in our 10th year) ......the end is now closer than the begining, much closer.
we have no idea as to where we will end up or what we will do.
but finish we will as money is a continual point of stress and has been for the last 5 years!
we always seem to manage to make 'ends meet' and get to the next country but it is getting harder and harder.

People say, write a book, make a DVD or three! but there are so many out there these days is anyone interested in 'yet another'. perhaps we will - who knows?

this type of travel is like a drug. the more you do the more you want to do! without the continual moving we become restless and irritated. once the 'drug' hits in we feel content again.

however reading your post Sam has provided us with a different perspective on how things may be.......

i will keep looking at this thread when I get the chance!
cheers guys.

I managed 2 trips this year not in the big league although ....... 10,000 K's is the taste that tiped me over the edge.

Returning to work getting an endless ear full of bottom lip, bills, rates, insurance, power up by 40% :-0 Maintenance on the house, car, bike, the rideon mower carked it had to buy a new one .... ouch, the tenant, hearing the total and utter rot from our politicians ...... how damn embarrassing and it goes on and on......

Sound like a winger but hey we all put up with it, thats life, right ?


Reading the threads here any chance I got ..... the penny dropped......Time to get off the merry go round, I'm not playing anymore!


Everything is on the market, soon to be seen heading for the hills:mchappy:

Depression
 

It is normal for anyone when they have just experienced a great freedom trip that they feel fed up and depressed at the thought of getting back into the hub bub of life.
What I do is spend weeks editing all my videos and photos of the trip, this helps me to relive the moments and pass the time, try to make a small documentry about it so that you can enjoy it years later.
After that i then spend weeks and months planning my next trip this helps to keep the adventure feeling alive longer. Plotting all my GPS points, accomodation points of interest etc.
On top of that try to join a bikers club or go rides with some mates, just get out on your bike and enjoy it.

Just remember that your greatest adventure is the one that you have not taken yet!
:scooter:

'Just remember that your greatest adventure is the one that you have not taken yet!'

How perfectly said is that!!!!! :mchappy:

Mine isn't a trip or an adventure, it is a lifestyle...I don't travel as far as others, nor as fast, but I have the opportunity to learn and explore and better understand the country I am traveling in. Of course I am retired, have a regular income, good health, and limited family to deal with. I have been on the road for most of the last 4 years, the longest stretch has been 6 months thru North and Central America. I ride towards warmer weather for snorkeling and body surfing plus good riding! I am anticipating a year long adventure to a different continent next year...Life is good! Ride the wind and never look back!
Smoke

Interesting thread.

What causes post-trip blues? In my opinion, it's the perception that what is done after returning, can't measure up to what was experienced on the road. That, and the assumption that the trip would be some kind of magical cure-all and would make life all wonderful the moment it was completed - which (from what I've read from overlander writings) doesn't seem to happen.

I think both these assumptions are false. "Real life" can be just as interesting if not more so than overlanding. And travelling a long time and distance doesn't magically make normal life suddenly become an effortless utopia.

What works to have a successful and satisfying trip? Isn't it things like: having a dream, setting some goals to achieve it, doing some research, preparation, then making a plan and starting it, taking action, then handling all the setbacks along the way, and persevering until it was completed. Well, won't the same virtues that created a successful trip of a lifetime, also help to make 'normal life' more successful and satisfying when you get back home?

So, perhaps the cure for post-trip blues is to treat your life back home as just another adventure. Imagine it as your next big trip, bring the same virtues that you applied to your recently completed epic journey, and see what happens.