One of the interesting things about traveling here is meeting people from various parts of the world who roam the world. At lunch today we met a Canadian who hasn't lived there for 20 years but rather lives in Japan but travels a great deal through Asia. Then there was the Brit yesterday who has no particular place that he calls home - rather it is dependent on what visa he presently has that permits him to travel wherever. He picks up work teaching English here and there as he requires money. One meets these characters daily.
Then there are the people who look for ways to volunteer during extended breaks from work. These people you meet daily as well. They have taken 3, 4, 6 and even 12 month leaves from work while they travel and volunteer. One chap I met spent a month on an organic farm in rural India with virtually nobody able to speak English - he thought it was marvelous.
Then there are the people who just pack up and leave home settling here permanently.
This guy, a permanent resident, ensured we behaved on our walk and stayed off his territory
Back in Canada, we don't get a lot of exposure to people so possessed with wanderlust. Yet, they are such fascinating individuals with stories of far away lands (well not so far away here) with hidden mysteries to be uncovered. But in it all, there is the greater mystery of self that unfolds in unexpected ways as you are faced with customs, manners and cultural behaviors that are so different. How will you adapt or not? How will you welcome the strangeness or reject it? What will shift you completely outside your comfort zone and how well can you handle that? What is predictable is that it is all unpredictable. Such is the joy of travel!
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