{"id":2778,"date":"2014-03-30T10:11:56","date_gmt":"2014-03-30T09:11:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/?p=2778"},"modified":"2026-05-23T09:10:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-23T08:10:08","slug":"a-travellers-thoughts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/2014\/03\/30\/a-travellers-thoughts\/","title":{"rendered":"A Traveller’s Thoughts"},"content":{"rendered":"

Are we tourists?\u00a0 Are we travellers? Are we sightseers?\u00a0 Are we holidaymakers? Or are we just chasing an inquisitive wanderlust?\u00a0 What are we looking for?\u00a0 Are we actually searching for anything? \u00a0Is it just a constant fascination with seeing different places, a different lifestyle, meeting new people and different conversations?\u00a0 A traveller\u2019s mind always wanders, but is curiosity reason enough to go to new places?<\/p>\n

When I unfold a map, or open an atlas, the intrigue takes hold.\u00a0 It tells us where we might like to go.\u00a0 Our maps are our starting points, they open up our journeys.\u00a0 We can\u2019t really answer that age-old question \u201cIf you could go anywhere in the world, where would you go next?\u201d \u00a0Would it be somewhere we\u2019ve already been and loved, or do we feel we need to see more of the world, before we can answer that question?<\/p>\n

\"Degrees
Degrees of Separation at Sawmillers Reserve, Sydney<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

Is there anything beyond the \u2018seven seas\u2019 and where are the four corners of the world?\u00a0 Where was the line indicating the Tropic of Cancer when we were in Abu Dhabi, Oman and Mexico?\u00a0 We\u2019ve stood on the prime meridian at Greenwich and crossed it in France and Spain.\u00a0 South Africa and Australia showed us the Tropic of Capricorn and we\u2019ve crossed the Equator uncountable times\u2026\u2026and we\u2019re still travelling.\u00a0 It hasn\u2019t changed us, or helped us understand the world any better, or has it?\u00a0 Do we feel a bit like we are ticking off some imaginary list of things to do in a lifetime?<\/p>\n

Perhaps we should visit Terra del Fuego, or sail the wide Sargasso Sea.\u00a0 Would floating down the Mississippi be as absorbing as roaming up the Mekong River on a boat?\u00a0 Where does the Orinoco Flow and would the source of the Nile be as disappointing as the source of the River Thames? We\u2019ve stood in the snow on the edge of the Grand Canyon at sunrise.\u00a0 We\u2019ve watched the sun set in to the sea in Vanuatu.\u00a0 We\u2019ve ridden on trains, cars, bikes, trams, planes, and on buses, with live chickens in Bali.\u00a0 We\u2019ve walked on a glacier in New Zealand.\u00a0 We\u2019ve stood on the top of the World Trade Centre in New York and inside the Christchurch Cathedral, both of which no longer exist. \u00a0We\u2019ve ridden camels in the desert, scrutinised snow monkeys in the mountains of Japan and watched leaf cutter ants keeping busy in the jungles of Sarawak.\u00a0 One of us has stood and marvelled at Everest, the world\u2019s highest mountain and we\u2019ve both looked down into the Colca Canyon, one of the world\u2019s deepest.\u00a0 We\u2019ve stood on wobbly reed islands in the middle of Lake Titicaca, the highest navigable lake in the world, and skied down snow-covered mountains on so many continents.\u00a0\u00a0Why is it that standing on the top of a mountain, or on the edge of a cliff, is so much more exhilarating or moving, than just looking at pictures of these places?\u00a0 So many of these things can be studied in a book or a documentary, but it\u2019s the sights, sounds, smells, different tastes and experiences that make something very special.\u00a0 No, we\u2019re not ticking boxes; we are filling our lives with amazing visions and experiences.<\/p>\n

\"Little
Little Hartley house, Blue Mountains NSW<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

Everywhere that we visit around the world is different and unique and yet strangely we often try to equate it to somewhere we\u2019ve already been.\u00a0 \u201cOh, this beach looks just like one in Dorset\u201d, no it doesn\u2019t. \u201cOh, this town is like a smaller version of Melbourne\u201d, no it isn\u2019t.\u00a0 Surely the excitement of travel is in the joy of finding new places and not referring them back to the comfort of the already known; I hope we’re not the only travellers who do this…..?<\/p>\n

I can love a window display in Venice, or London, as much as spotting a giraffe crossing a road in Africa.\u00a0 I can hate eating\u00a0andoulette in the south of France, as much as nearly dying in a kayak in the Ardeche.\u00a0 I can love sleeping in Eileen The Campervan, as much as sleeping in a six-star hotel in Bangkok.\u00a0 It\u2019s the combination of all these experiences, both good and bad, that make up the fun of travelling.\u00a0 Do we need the experience of staying in star-studded hotels around the world, or is bedding down in our comfy campervan the better way?\u00a0 Variety is the spice of life, so our lives must be very spicy!\u00a0 Life can be interesting, so very interesting.\u00a0 And then, it\u2019s always so lovely to go home again……..<\/p>\n

\"Garba,
Garba, our new lounge resident<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Are we tourists?\u00a0 Are we travellers? Are we sightseers?\u00a0 Are we holidaymakers? Or are we just chasing an inquisitive wanderlust?\u00a0 What are we looking for?\u00a0 Are we actually searching for anything? \u00a0Is it just a constant fascination with seeing different places, a different lifestyle, meeting new people and different conversations?\u00a0 A traveller\u2019s mind always wanders, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2779,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2778","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-australia"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2778","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2778"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2778\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8345,"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2778\/revisions\/8345"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2779"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2778"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2778"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2778"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}