And a new journey begins

Jonathon Fairclough

Production Manager

One journey ends, another begins. And so it goes, amigos.

I started writing travel stories in response to one summer spent abroad: I was young and wide-eyed, I hadn’t the faintest clue of what I was doing, where I was going, but I came back somehow. Somehow. I was hooked, as it were, but suddenly I was living in a silly little house in Westdale, I was paying rent, I was going to potlucks.

A fundamental shift had occurred in my head, in my heart too, and it was hard to come down from that. I wrote my first article in 2010 as both a reminder of the things that happened and as a lesson for the few who read it: if it could happen to me it can happen to you.

It’s 2012 now (I’m told) and after a dozen or so travel stories I’ll be hanging up my cruddy boots to dry. That was my journey, those were my stories, and I trust that they were skimmed with a mild sense of enjoyment, perused with a hint of pleasure, and I hope, just hope, that they gradually inspired one or two people into packing their bags and hitting that long, open void that we call the road.

I once wrote about a man I met on a subway in Athens, shortly after the austerity measure riots of July this year. Athens was a mess, the cabs were on strike, graffiti everywhere, people were fighting and looting and doing whatever they could to stick it to the government… and there’s this man on the subway who can’t stop smiling, can’t stop telling me how much he loves bees.

He was a professor who specialized in the behaviour of bees, and he’d been learning and teaching about them ever since he was a child. He was late 50s, early 60s, delivering a small little bee lesson on a subway ride before he went his way. I’ll always remember him for telling me that life was pointless unless you do what you love, unless you drop everything you have to chase a goal, however unattainable, for the sake of yourself and those around you.

I’ll never forget that silly old man, I’ll never forget about his simple lesson, and after following this advice, I must be going.  It’s time to embark on a new trip, a new start you could say, pursuing what I enjoy. I love travel, I love to take shitty little photographs, I love to write about it; that’s what I’ll be doing, I don’t see any other option now that the flame’s been lit.

So to all of you, boy and girl, big and small: never give up on those plans to fly away and see the world. It seems like a daunting concept, doesn’t it?

We’re all scared, all worried about what’s out there, but the ones who accept this and fly anyway are the ones who are bound to get the most out of life. Don’t wait, don’t excuse yourself, plan now. Money might be out of line, schedules might not link up, but that shouldn’t stop you from planning, dreaming, and eventually doing. When that opportunity arises, when that chance to escape presents itself, you’ll be ready, and you’ll be on the road.

Farewell folks, it’s been a trip.