A lot can happen in 10 years. On this day, 10 years ago tragedy struck at the World Trade Centre and I had just arrived back from travelling on my round the world adventure. I’m sure we have all paused for thought today to remember the victims and their families. Such a terrible thing, I remember it like it was yesterday....
Tomorrow I head off following a desire I had long ago to work in foreign lands, be hot, sweaty and give something back to children who have little. Gone are the days when I can travel around the world with just a rucksack on my back which only closed after Uncle Andy threw a wobbly over due to the amount of cotton buds and other miscellaneous toiletry items I'd deemed necessary to take for a year ‘travelling around the world’. This time I have 3 pieces of luggage; one rucksack and 2 suitcases (all on wheels) totalling a massive 69kg of luggage allowance. The joys of being somewhat older and wiser to the important luxuries; toiletries and luggage wheels topping the list with a Charity worker luggage allowance to boot.
Marmite was a luxury I wasn’t prepared to do without when travelling 10 years ago and with my sisters very generous Cash and Carry buy I won’t this time. I remember making a special detour to Melaka in Malaysia (which as it happens was lovely and well worth the visit) just because a fellow backpacker travelling in the opposite direction to me through Asia had found it in a shop there. Extortionately over priced but well worth the time and effort. I also remember Marks and Spencer’s knickers in Kuala Lumpur being hideously over priced too, however, the relief at replacing them for the brand new ones I had purchased just two months before in Cambridge was immense. They had in that time been scrubbed to within an inch of their lives by various Asian washer women and turned from a bright white to murky grey. No such shame this time. I’ve gone for colour in my underwear!
I digress. It seems technology has spun out of control in the last 10 years and I’m floundering along in the technology wave in the hope that I can keep up. 10 years ago I had a walkman (tapes...goodness, who remembers those?!) brought for me by some dear friends and that was it. Mobile phones had arrived on our planet and at that time were a small brick like incarnation but I just wasn’t on the wave then. Not sure I was even on the beach. I was stubbornly sticking two fingers up to the thought of having a phone attached to my face whist travelling....some hippy ideal I had. For those that know me, times have changed. Tomorrow I take to Ghana my iphone, ipod, laptop, an extraordinary number of cables, surge protectors, anti-thief locks, a mobile modem, printer cartridges and other additional technical paraphernalia alongside the most miniature yet loud speakers I have had the pleasure to own. What a fabulous addition to the backpack the Kindle has been! I do love it but I miss a real page; there is something rather good about holding a book, turning the pages and seeing how far you’ve got through the book rather than seeing the percentage read. But Crikey O’Reilly! What a space and weight saving device this beautifully small and neat piece of kit is. And thank goodness it is or I would never be able to fit in my iphone, ipod, laptop, an extraordinary number of cables, surge protectors, anti-thief locks, a mobile modem, printer cartridges and other additional technical paraphernalia alongside the most miniature yet loud speakers I have had the pleasure to own.
As I pack the entire contents of Boot’s the chemist, Apple Store and Amazon.com into my 69Kg I; thank my lucky stars I have some very special friends and family supporting me, am grateful that I’ve managed to catch up with most of them (and a few hangovers) over the last couple of weeks, am sorry to those who I haven’t caught up with and am hugely appreciative of all friends and family who have help me not only reach but exceed my target for VSO fundraising. Thank you for all the cards, kind words of encouragement and for keeping my mum (mildly) sane while I’m away – and yes mum; I will wear the helmet (even though I do look like Daftvader). I will miss you all dearly. Stay safe and be good.....
I'm off to work in Ghana for a year with the Ghanaian Education Service supporting Science teachers in the Upper East Region to do more practical and active lessons for the extraordinary number of students they have per class! It's organised through VSO. The work they do is fantastic and I feel very privileged to be able to help. Thought I'd blog my exciting adventure...
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