What I carry
“Travel is at its most rewarding when it ceases to be about your reaching a
destination and becomes indistinguishable from living your life”
– Paul Theroux
“A Case History” was created by John King and installed on Liverpool’s Hope Street in 1998. Some years later, we got married on that street, and the suitcases were the backdrop to our wedding photographs; Two travellers, about to embark on an international move. Five days later we boarded a plane and moved to the Middle East for new jobs. There were sixteen cardboard boxes. We got them from local supermarkets, filled them ourselves, taped them up and sent them ahead. And then we carried loads of luggage. I mean, we were moving for 3 years! Hand luggage, excess luggage, and bags full of enthusiasm. After that, moves have looked different. There’s been some left luggage. What have we lost along the way?
Some relationships have been left behind. Perhaps as each international move enriched our lives and shaped us into the people that we are now, we grew apart from some. Most probably that is perfectly normal.
What else was left behind? Baggage from the culture that we grew up in got discarded, excess luggage that we don’t need or want, like ‘keeping up with Jones’s, and expectations from family to live a particular way. We lost the lot.
These days we carry the weight of 20 years of international living and travel.
So what do we carry now?
First would be case loads of curiosity. That hunger to learn about other places is still very high up on our list. We’re interested in being fully immersed in a different country, learning about the language, the culture and the wine. There’s always wine.
I’m reminded of something written by travel writer Paul Theroux…
“Travel is at its most rewarding when it ceases to be about your reaching a destination and becomes indistinguishable from living your life”
We experience newness ever day; a new flavour, vocabulary, history, landscape, seasons. We’re learning it all. We’re not ready to settle into the familiar and wonder if we ever will. We carry insight, after seeing that across the world, we all have more similarities than differences. And we carry experience, knowing that we will find the answers to almost everything locally. Local is always lekker. Finally we bear the load for each other. At times you pick up the slack for a whole host of reasons. We are always confident that when there are challenges, we will make a plan and help each other. We carry each other.
What do you carry with you, after life elsewhere?
