Coming back
 

After returning from a 3 week solo excusion around Morocco 3 weeks ago, I guess I am in a bit of a state.

Its not that I saw anything horrific or scary, but I got a good mouthful of Maroc and in the main very much enjoyed and was changed by it. I've done a big blog on the site.

The problem is now, and I've expericend this after every one of my big journeys. Its a kind of paralasis of communication. You really can't describe all you have seen. There aren't the words to describe your emotions.

Yes you've got a few pictures, but the pictures are rubbish compared to what was actually there (I am a better photographer than most before you say anything). If you've tried to video it, it is even worse.

You were somewhere so different, so strange, you had troubles, but people were good and kind. It is so hard to explain. I wish I could do a better job of talking about it because in my head it was a life changing experience, but out of my head all i can offer is glib comments and wave my hands about!

I think, maybe, that a lot of people feel this way after a proper adventure.

know what you are talking about.coming off a traveling high,returning home
and your friends,family just don't get it!!!!!
a common statement i hear is oh why would you want to go there.
its gotten to the point i don't share as much with people as i used too.
planning the next trip helps me keep my sanity.
jm2c
kp

Dave ,one of the best reports i have seen was one where he let the pics do its thing with a bit of info on its location. cannot replace the being there ,we know that its the visual,sensual over load of sights n sounds,smells that make up the whole,enjoy the memories ,the pics you do share may be enough to get someone else to get off their opinion n see it for themselves . then there is the ride.

I share the frustration at the inability to express what I've seen and felt and also the way the photo's never do the scene justice. But to me there is the upside - if words and pictures truly expressed a significant part of what my motivation to go there would be reduced. The fact that they don't is for me the motivation to get up and get moving again.

I wonder how many of the usual suspects (to use a convenient shorthand) that have produced books / DVDs etc about their travels would say that their output matches the intensity of their experiences. Very few I would imagine. Back in my early bike travel days we used to keep daily journals to try and a) remember as much as possible and b) be able to relate what we'd seen to friends / family when we got back. We very quickly learned that most people don't want much more than a 2 min summary with some amusing anecdotes - it was sunny / freezing, we ate some very odd food and the toilets were weird / disgusting would do it most of the time. Digging out more than two or three pictures got the subject changed pretty rapidly.

I was lucky to some degree in that we had a loose bunch of us who did various trips and now and again (usually in the winter) we'd have a "reunion" in a pub somewhere where you could be a little more certain of a sympathetic ear - a bit like some of the HUBB meets these days. I'd suggest you put all your thoughts, conclusions and wisdom (together with the best of the pics) into some kind of concise form and do a presentation at some upcoming gathering. They're a bit thin on the ground this year in the UK I admit but a substantial trip has a bit of a lifespan so next year / the year after would still be ok. Failing that a book (hard work but it can be very satisfying) or (for video / stills) something on line.

Probably the worst thing to do is to leave it as a "I'll get round to it " project because the act of having to distill the experience for the page / talk does condense insights that otherwise remained half formed. For some of my trips it was years if not decades later that the core lesson to be learnt became obvious.

There are some great thoughts there peoples! I especially like navalarchitect's commnet on not begin able to fully descirbe the experience as the prompt for the next trip.

I guess it is, what it is and I should accept it for what it is!

Go easy peoples!bier

I have struggled to convey my experiences every time. It got to the point my wife and I even stop saying anything to friends about what we get up to on our travels, even to the point where we just said we had a nice time and the weather was great............. because it was easier than trying to tell a story of what actually happened. Its very hard to get past the first paragraph of your rehearsed story without people interjecting with " how cheap was the beer?" :helpsmilie:

So for our last trip we made a video or two and sat each family member / friend in front of it ( when they asked how our Holiday was). We had several reactions, most memorable was the one who thought it was fake and wasn't us at all! In general most people were amazed where and how we travel. It did the trick for us, now most of our family and friends " understand" but not all "get it" and I don't expect them to either.

For what it's worth every trip, big or small, leaves me with the same feeling, the day it doesn't is the day I stop going.........possibly?

Remember the Big Bang episode when Howard returned from the space station? :cool4:

I would not feel pressured Dave. Don't even bother to explain. We get it. But sharing thoughts and memories HERE is not a bad way to go, IMO.

Just let it come out when you think of it, and feel like sitting down and writing something. No pressure. Doesn't have to be a big production. Have fun with it. beer

If you've got a Blog here ... I didn't see it. Most blogs get no attention beyond close friends and family. But really ... your "real" family is right here. We're the guys/girls who get it, who've been there, done that. So, a pretty good audience.

I would start a Ride report in Ride Tales, try to update as much as you can, adding things as they come up, keep it rolling and at the top of the forum. And of course Photos make it all better.

The fact is, lots of "regular" people you met don't really give a shit what you saw in Maroc and probably think your a nut job for going there solo.

We've all had these reactions. But here on HUBB you've got virtual friends who appreciate the work it takes to pound out thoughts and post up pics and many have had similar experiences on the road.

Cheers! :mchappy:
bier

PS: And of course you should have already started planning the NEXT BIG RIDE! YES?

Mollydog is right, most people don't get it at all. But most lifechanging or absorbing 'hobbies' out of the real mainstream like going for a round of golf are the same.

Don't even bother trying to 'suck them into the magic'. It just won't work. I've spent much of my life on the back of a horse (a lot of horses), and I have all the aches and pains to go with it, along with several now dead friends (RIP) and a paraplegic one to boot. There but for the grace of god and all that.....

My partner of the last 5 years doesn't get it at all (the horses) even though she's seen plenty of it. So if she can't get something 'unusual' having been in the middle of it after half a decade how can you expect workmates and lads in the pub to follow it.

Thankfully she does get the travel end to some extent.....

Just remember your only doing it for yourself, not posterity or anyone else and any sacrifices (and casualties) along the way are just a paart of it.

Equally you'll never fully understand their 9 to 5, 2.4 kids and a mortgage existance!! Now thats the real mystery to me :nono: