Do It All – But Not This Moment

I am so, so guilty of this habit. I get my 8-weeks of summer holidays (yay teaching!), and with all that time that I know I’m lucky to have, I know that I’m going to travel. See a few more new countries, go back to a favourite or two. Spend the summer relaxing, right?

And then I start to plan. Right now, I’m in the throes of planning a (mostly) overland trip from Nairobi to Cape Town. A loose plan I have now is Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia, Botswana, Namibia, South Africa. 

Busy, but doable, right? But then I see my map and I go ‘but Malawi is right there. I know someone there, she could introduce me to some of the local cultures! It could be so neat! Surely I can travel from one of the neighbouring countries to Malawi, right?’ And yes. You can. But something else has to give. 

And then I think. Ooo, but Mozambique is next door. I know so many people who have had fantastic experiences there. And then there’s Rwanda, Uganda, Zimbabwe. 

The thing is, the list never ends. You can visit ‘neighbouring countries’ until you’ve seen almost every country in the world. And then you’re squeezing 20 countries into two months and looking back at the picture you frantically snapped of some cute old town in Europe, and you can’t remember a single thing about it. 

The two conflicting thoughts are ‘I need to see these countries now.’ For the same reason I tell friends not to put off travel, (because who knows how long a person has that they’re able to do so – and actually wrote an entire post dedicated to traveling NOW here) And: ‘I don’t have to see everything now because I can always come back this way and see and experience what I didn’t the first time. 

So which is it?! 

Unfortunately, there really isn’t an answer, or at least not just taking the above conflicting points into consideration. And everyone has their own thoughts about what ‘slow/fast’ travel is. For me, spending a week on a beach is incredibly slow. I might even be bored. But for others, spending a month on that same beach wouldn’t be enough time. 

This year I’ve got several adventures lined up, and I’m determined to try and take my travels a little slower. In February, I’m off to Sri Lanka for 10 whole days. I won’t be dipping into the Maldives (‘because I’m right there! That’s a *long* and *expensive* flight from good ol’ Saskatchewan. I could yet peek in and see the stunning beaches of my dreams…), but instead, spend my already limited time in the country I’m going so far to actually see. 

This summer, I’m headed off to Africa for the first time. While my original dream was to journey overland from Cairo to Cape Town, I’ve whittled that down to Nairobi to Cape Town, and cut out the mountain gorilla side trip. 

I’m determined to enjoy quiet Safari time, seeing animals I’ve only ever seen in enclosed spaces. To stay in an airbnb in an artsy Cape Town neighbourhood and enioy great coffee, penguins (!), and check out some world famous wines. I plan to spend 3 whole days doing nothing on the beaches of Zanzibar. 

Is it travelling as slow as I could? Definitely not. Is it seeing everything I would like to? Nope. It’s middle ground. 

For now, next time will just have to be enough. 

(Travel by train = the most relaxing way to travel)