All good things...

2 travellers

13 Countries

8 volunteer projects

12,478 blog views
2 cameras
4 billion photographs

1 parasite
4,357,805 mosquito bites

2 pairs of flipflops

379 days

1 wedding proposal

136 rambling blog posts

1 pretty awesome year!

Life is a funny thing and no matter how you chose to steer it, you can’t always direct its course: The dice rolls, you look at the number and you consider your next move.

Over the course of our year away, we have met so many people who do not have the freedom that we have to explore this planet or the liberty to make the decisions that Brodie and I have. We were reminded for the millionth time how fortunate we are that by sheer chances of fate, we were born as citizens with the freedom of travel, in a country where your income on a global scale makes you rich and life abroad affordable, into a liberal culture that embraces independence, and into loving, supportive families who will support us along our journey. It is from this perspective that we found ourselves looking down at a new roll of the dice and making the decision to return home.

I remember writing my first blog 54 weeks ago in the airport lounge of Heathrow in a strange melancholic haze that was the result of an emotional hangover from too many goodbyes, and fortified by an overwhelming and thrilling sense of impending adventure. Have I changed much since then? In some ways, yes…indescribably. In some ways not at all. On the surface I don’t think you’d find me much different…although as Claire likes to point out, I’ve softened my Ts (a habit I must quit), I have long hair and for once in my life I have a tan (not that you could see it under my nasty restrictive British winter clothes-who invented skinny jeans?!!). My feet now have an aversion to shoes, and I seem to crave tea as if my British roots are clawing at me to stay put. But these things are all superficial.

I don’t think you can spend a year on the road and fail to change. Without trying to sound clichéd, I like to think I’ve broadened my horizons, fine-tuned my ideas and my ideals and have perhaps a more balanced outlook on the world. Wow that did sound clichéd.

You hear people talk about how their travels have uplifted them and how they were inspired and reassured by the things they have seen and people they met. On this I am split.

On the one hand I have just finished probably the most wondrous, explosive, awe-inspiring and fulfilling years of my life. But…the more I travelled the more I observed, and the more I observed, the more I felt an impending sense of tragedy. We are a desperate race, facing a toxic cocktail of problems which we are so far from sorting out, or in many cases even engaging with, that it just frightens…no it petrifies me. The insane rates of deforestation, the over-farming, the over-fishing, the poverty, the lack of healthcare, the poor sanitation, the lack of education, the illegal poaching, the shark-finning, the invasive species, the littering (OH-MY-GOD THE LITTERING!!), the crazy extinction rates, the frightening decline in biodiversity and increase in monoculture, the insane levels of pollution (of the sea, the soil, the sky) the need to feed our 7.4 billion people and our increasingly demanding appetites, increasing drought, increasing flood risk, the greed, selfishness, sheer ignorance and severe apathy of our leaders to do anything tangible about it…Our world is turning (has turned?!) into a giant landfill, we just don’t realise it in the UK as we’re so good at burying it or leaving it to squander in the bottom of our oceans where we can’t see it.

Yes, sadly, my overwhelming emotion when I think about the state of the world and where it is headed, is one of hopelessness, and my year travelling through it has just heightened this sentiment in me.

So do I think we really are a hopeless case?...I am claustrophobic with the crushing reality of what we are doing to our world, and the overwhelming sense of responsibility we have as citizens of a rich nation, and as world citizens, to do something about it….

However, a friend recently told me about the idea of a Eucatastrophe –a phrase coined by JR Tolkein to mean the sudden turn of events that rapidly alters the course of fate for the better (as demonstrated beautifully at the end of Lord of The Rings). I have a perhaps naïve faith that some big changes will happen soon that will switch the course of our demise. They have to, otherwise I think our outlook really is hopeless. But I do think people are switching on to environmental and climate issues and we now have platforms for communication that were never open to us before, so I think it is our responsibility to make these things visible-we can’t just sit by and wait for change to happen. Since being home, I have heard so much more about renewable energy, about climate change, about environmental policy, about address packaging problems, about the carbon footprint of food, about addressing waste issues…. the tide does feel like it’s starting to turn, and I hope the increasing profile of these issues will begin to gain in momentum. We need to reach that tipping point where picking the green option is financially beneficial, and thinking environmentally becomes the norm...on a Governmental level and a local level (Al Gore gave a nice Ted Talk on this point if you have a spare few minutes).

Backpack hugs are the best kind of hugs!

This year, Brodie and I have been indescribably blessed to have had the pleasure of meeting and getting to know a simply awe-inspiring army of world warriors, who have devoted their lives to making this world a better place: Victoria, Tina, Shavez, Bazillah, Ryan, David, Jackie, Martin, Janet, Samban, Lucie, Yo, Tom, Linda, Frank, Nat, Caroline, Jack, Euginio, Noé among others…Not to mention many of the woofers, volunteers and friends we’ve met along the way who share their passion and their ideals and will hopefully carry their messages back to their home countries. To you all, thank you for having the discussions that other people don’t want to have, for living the life we should all lead, for confronting the issues we face, and for leading by example. I am motivated, humbled, inspired by you, and I am honoured to know you, and to call you friends. These are the kind of people who will change our world, and they are the roots, however small, and however hidden amongst the weeds, that make me believe that something beautiful can still grow in this world, and that there can be some hope for its future.

Biologists and environmentalists are often criticized for caring more about trees than they do about people. These things aren’t mutually exclusive. They are absolutely, categorically and intrinsically linked to one another. I am a teacher, I care tremendously about people. I care about my unborn children, about their unborn children, and I care about your unborn children, but if we neglect to preserve the world around us, then how can we provide a future for them? Without our natural resources we can’t begin to start addressing the human-related problems we have.

Do I feel satisfied by our own efforts this year? Not at all! I have flown more times this year than in the previous 5 years combined, and if everyone in the world kept up the same rate we would be in a severe state. That has to change. This year we have seen so much litter, and such a devastatingly apathetic attitude towards litter almost everywhere we’ve gone, that we cannot have failed to have reflected on our own resource use….I now cringe at how ignorant I was about this before I left. I have always recycled, used my own bags and dutifully put my rubbish in the bin as I’m sure most of you do, but this is simply not enough. Our global use of plastics is mind-blowing and the amount of waste we produce is simply sickening. We need to address this and we need to address this quickly. It starts at home, in the way we choose to live, in the conversations we have, in the decisions we make when we buy products, in the way we bring up our kids. As the very wise Nelson Mandela once said, "Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world." -this trip has made me acutely aware of my role as a teacher and my responsibility to raise the awareness of these issues amongst our next generation. It's not their fault we've messed it up, but it's going to be up to them to help fix it.

So despite the sad fact that my net impact on the planet this year is most-likely a negative one, I hope that I have learnt enough from my travels that through the decisions I make moving forward, my future impact on the Earth will be a much smaller one than it would have been otherwise. As Tolstoy once said, "Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no-one thinks of changing himself." I have a long way to go.

Anyway, enough of the heavy stuff, the fact remains that we have had a simply mind-blowingly insanely spectacularly outstanding year of adventures which would normally fill up a few life-times.

We have walked, hiked, Zumba-ed, cycled, driven, go-karted, swung, flown, run, crawled, motorbiked, moped-ed, cable-car-ed, swum, climbed, sky-dived, jumped, snorkelled, camper-vanned, volcano-boarded, ridden on horse-back, sailed, kayaked, canoed, trucked, zip-lined, bused, tuk-tuked surfed and skipped across 13 different countries. We have blundered our way through 9 different languages, confuddled our brains with 14 different currencies and worked our butts off for 8 different projects. We have climbed magnificent mountains, we have shuffled our feet through white sand, yellow sand, grey sand, black sand…We have scrambled through spider webs, crawled through caves, snorkelled in crystal clear waters, jumped off waterfalls, swung from rope-swings and wobbled across rope bridges, been spooked by scorpions, teased tarantulas and provoked poboscis monkeys, watched 360° thunderstorms from a boat on the Kinabatangan, partied into the New Year on a tropical beach, got engaged on the most beautiful lake, under the most beautiful sea of stars, and cycled naked through the streets of New Zealand!

We’ve learnt how to cut vines, plant trees, drive a speed boat, use a machete, propagate bushes, build a house, identify frogs, cut wood, mix cement, crowd-fund, collect seeds, use bench saws, master (ish) an electric drill, cut forest trails, learnt what is meant by a “3-by-2”, identify monkey pee, plan events, plaster walls and cook vegetarian food for fussy American kids.

We’ve smiled, we’ve screamed, we’ve whispered, we’ve cheered and we’ve whooped, we’ve absorbed, we’ve laughed, we’ve loved.

We have been blown away by the wildlife: from the tiny little insects to the magnificent swooping eagles, from the naughty little monkeys to 500 year old trees: from the intricate orchids to the sexy little vine snakes, from the extraordinary tree frogs to the giant bees, from 5 meter–long pythons, iridescent worms, luminescent plankton, glow in the dark fungus, bug-eyed tarsiers, to sleepy (green!!) sloths…WOWEE what an absolute feast for a biologist!!

We have shared our journey with so many extraordinary people –some who we will inevitably forget, and others who will stay with us forever…all of whom we have learnt from in one way or another.

I will not miss the dorm rooms, packing (and unpacking) my bag, changing beds, rice and beans, hairy legs, spotty foreheads, booking.com, rolling my eyes at insanely dull conversations about how many places you’ve visited in 2 weeks with 21 year old backpackers….

…But I will miss the intense freedom, the independence, the adventure, meeting new people from all corners of the world, learning about new places…the history, the people, the culture, the wildlife…trying new foods, the sounds of the jungle, getting lost, getting found, discovering new places and stumbling upon gems, the indulgence of being able to read (what an absolute treat!), wholesome physical work, being outdoors all day, every day, living in flipflops, writing my blog….

I am not looking forward to the weather, winter clothes, television, consumerism, putting my feet in horrible cramped-up shoes, traffic, the need to be responsible again, being trapped indoors, dull-grey days, £5 glasses of wine and not spending every minute of every day with my favourite Mr Lea…

…But I am excited about seeing our family and seeing our friends, and giving them all super giant, all-consuming hugs, snuggling in my own duvet, cycling, proper teabags and proper cups of tea, decent digestive biscuits (why do they taste so different everywhere else?!), smelling good, starting dance classes, hot showers (no more buckets!!), getting fit, roast potatoes…

I have spent 379 days waking up next to this man. 379 days of endless discovering, exploring, meandering, card-playing, chattering, rolling-on-the-floor-laughing, and simply relishing the opportunity to indulge in our sweaty, smelly, spotty and delicious companionship. My god I am a lucky girl. He challenges my outlook, indulges my ramblings, questions my ideas, laughs at me and with me and makes me believe that anything is possible. He has kept me safe and he made me realise that as long as I am with him, even if we are by ourselves in the deepest darkest middle of nowhere, then I am home. I am so indescribably proud and excited to call him my fiancé. Yes I’m a little nervous about returning home and a little apprehensive about the future, when suddenly everything seems a little unknown, but I know that whatever life throws at us, we will embrace our next adventure hand in hand.

My very wise Aunty Sue told me last January to “Go explore and fill up your cup.”. My God did I fill up my cup…In fact I upgraded my cup to Super-Size Mega-bucket and this beast is overflowing!

I am not looking forward to finishing my blog. I imagine it will feel a little like when you finish writing a book and you miss the characters…except this time we are the subjects, our lives are the story, and I’ve no idea what’s going to happen in the next chapter.

Frank said to me on our last night at Cloudbridge…”Travelling is the only thing that you spend money on that actually makes you richer”. I like that. And it’s very true.

We

Are

Millionaires