What if you feel like you don't fit into society BEFORE you go on a trip.

------------------
Brooklyn Dakar
http://motorcycleramblings.blogspot.com/

__________________
Prevously known as JSherm
My blog: http://www.motorcycleramblings.com/
http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/tstories/sherman/ I will up date this soon, really Grant, I will....
"This is the story of America. Everybody's doing what they think they're supposed to do." J Kerouac
"Who's more foolish: the fool, or the fool who follows him" OW Kenobi

JSherm
I returned home 2 months ago after 6 months crossing Africa. A trip ive dreamed of doing since childhood. I really surprised how few posts there are concerning re-entry into "civilisation". The dream realised Im now faced with the stark reality of what Im supposed to consider normal. Perhaps it sounds silly, but its been really tough on me, after travelling alone for so long i cant function in normal social situations. Iv become a recluse and walked off a shoot already (i work in film which provided the finances for my travels).
Life at home has lost its flavour. Its to safe, to predictable and to boring. I want to be "out there" again. Just me and my bike and an uncertain dawn.
Anyone else out there feel this way? How are we to face normal?

__________________
"If we don't find something good at least we will find something new." Voltaire

You seem to speak of the "travellers disease",
"the mysterious illness of the revenants"
l don't think its due to money, career or other
materials,

Someone said "there is something behind the dream"
and that is a psychological issue,
the dream helped you believe & continue
the dreamy cloud above your head was white & light and it even let you sit on it and lose gravity,,,
Now the cloud has abandoned you, you
wish you had a parachute!
What can you do? jump on a new cloud? imagine there was ground under your feets,,,?
What could be realistic to do when ground you left long ago, re appears and approaches so fastly!
Only birds can fly with ease!
What are you doing alone up there anyway?
Maybe you have a parachute after all,,
The answers are strictly aerodynamical l guess,,,
You have to deep dig your mind for it(can be hard), remember your mate who once told you "we all have problems!",,

Thats what it is about: the unavoidable secret part of things!


Mattias

Hand yourself in to the authorities, you're obviously a danger

__________________
My photos: www.possu.smugmug.com

Become a filmstar, then call up BMW and tell them they're paying.

Thought I'd weigh in on the returning to civilization theme. Just returned from 9 months in Africa and finding it very difficult to adjust back. Took 2 months to find a job, and eventually ended up back at a company I had worked for before. Now I find myself staring out of the window daydreaming of being 'out there'. I also check this forum much more than I ever did while planning or on the trip. Communicating with others of like interest seems to be good therapy.

And on the 'how did we afford it?' theme: We planned and saved for 5 years. Got the car, outfitted it. Bought a house that we planned on fixing up and selling. Then we decided that if we didn't work on the house we could keep it AND do the trip. So we did that. Unfortunately we ran out of money on the trip. We did make our destination, but didn't spend enough time anywhere. Now we are saving again, paying off some debt and planning the next one. May have to sell the house this time, but the car is paid for as is most of the equipment.

Setting goals is very important. We started planning 5 years before the trip and set a firm date 3 years before. That made it easier to work and save. Now that I don't have that goal, work is harder. I think the only answer to 'fit-back-into-civilization', is to plan another trip. That can justify the work.

cheers

Graham
www.africaoverland.org

__________________
Graham 'Cracker'
Director: Overland Training
Editor: Overland Journal
Instigator: Africa Overland

Hi
I originally remortgaged last year to buy a second home in Slovakia where my girlfriend comes from.We looked at many places but couldn't find that 'special' place on the budget i had.I wasn't going to buy a place for the sake of it being cheap so i still have the money sitting in bank.
After a trip to Morocco this year my girlfriend has the 'touring bug'.We are doing the Canada to S.A thing in July.
I would have liked to taken a year off but like fireboomer i am a fireman and that would have meant me resigning and not being guaranteed a job when i get back,especially as we are 'modernising' (downsizing).So i have been granted 4 months unpaid plus another 2 months entitled leave taken from next year and year after.
I hope to sell house before i go or rent it out as this would save £3000 in mortgage and council tax alone.
I spend a fair amount on holidays a year anyway.If i went to each of these countrys in Mexico,CA,SA as seperate holidays from uk for 6 months it would cost a hell lot more than touring them on a motorbike. Any way that's how i convinced myself to go.
We don't get a second go of this life do we !

Cheers !

Simon

For Mr Sherm

On the re-adjustment I have to concurr with Jim. I almost told an airline pilot to F#$% O%^ the other day when he began to complain about a five minute delay in his arrival to Melbourne. I thought you little over paid turd have you ever tried to get into Turkmenistan!

That I came close to saying it let alone contemplated saying it is quite telling. I am totally over the mind numbing beauracratic shit and pointless complaining associated with structured work. Overbearing bosses that insist on your complying with their pathetic pointless whims. Even bike clubs that lose sight of there purpose and become more pre-occupied with the processes involved in running them. Who gives a shit about minutes where's the and the conversation.

Sometimes i wish I didnt speak english so when I sat in a local cafe i didnt have to listen to the meaningless drivel that is the background chatter, while travelling I could imagine people were talking on a higher level..of course they werent really! But how was I to know.

But if I ever want to do it again I must hold my tongue and slowly I am being drawn back in. Difficult when you can see your country becoming a mean and non-inclusive society that believes justice is holding people in desert concentration camps for years because they were fleeing war and injustice.......how lucky they are!

Urrrrrgggghhhh

There is no comparison to bike travel....go go go.

PS I suppose if you do it you are a bit different anyway and solo trips let you indulge your difference unimpeeded, unshackled and unencumberred with the trivialities of everyday life.

[This message has been edited by simmo (edited 17 December 2004).]

[This message has been edited by simmo (edited 17 December 2004).]

__________________
Close to Antarctica and a long way from reality

Work in IT

Rather pleased that it is so dam hard to fit back in when you return. had it been easy, David and I would not have spent today on a beach on an island in Thailand, with our bikes parked outside our beach bungalow.
Do not for a minute regret going on the road again, or have we lost any sleep over how our lifes assets had to change to get going a second time.
Our only worry at the moment is 'where to stop next'.
That will change when we get to Bangkok and have to find a way to get the bikes to Nepal.....but we will figure it out.
Graham and Jim, you need to be on the road again. . . there is always a way, you just have to look a bit sideways to find it.

What l think is that in life, what goes up must go down and what goes down then goes up(like the sun!),

motorcycle travel is extreme satisfaction to the rider so its normal that once home again you get down, thats just the way it is and l think its important to accept it and not try to fight the feelings cause that way you'll get over,


Mattias





[This message has been edited by Matt595 (edited 19 December 2004).]

David and Cheryl,

I think you've hit on it! I need to be back out there! :-)

I have the strange background of never having lived in the country I'm a national of (GB). So I have always felt out of place. Travelling is much more comfortable for me. My wife, on the other hand, gets homesick when we are out for long trips. As in all things, I suppose it is a metter of balance. Of course I don't feel that way when I'm at work staring at the map of Africa over my desk!

Graham
www.africaoverland.org

__________________
Graham 'Cracker'
Director: Overland Training
Editor: Overland Journal
Instigator: Africa Overland

David and Cheryl,

Are you okay??

Mattias

Yes Mattias I was thinking the same thing! Drop a note David and Cheryl.

__________________
Close to Antarctica and a long way from reality

excellent thread. prioroties...............davidmc summed it up best. i sacrificed for 3 years to buy my dream bike. a customer of mine said to me, why on earth would you buy a $30,000 bike, and tour 3rd world countries? my response was, why do you purchase a similar cost SUV and take off 2 weeks a year to go to an all inclusive resort? if they have to ask, they won´t understand. i thought it was just myself that deviates from the norm of society. we dance to the beat of a different drummer. an illness in october made me focus on how i want to live my remainder. funny how similar many of us are. i put a mortgage on my house in vancouver, created rental income that allows me to live my dream. i am in the process of building a home just ñorth of acapulco. my jumping off point to tour mexico and visit vancouver occasionally. but my lifestyle is 100% built around touring and planning the next trip. hope you find your priorities jesse. P