Twenty years on, I look back at this trip and all the other extended travels I’ve taken solo—Laos, Cambodia, Indonesia, Argentina, Uruguay, South Africa, India—with huge affection for everyone I met and everything I experienced. Sure, it wasn’t all perfect, but the trips built confidence and character, and in no small part, paved the way for a career in travel. They led me, indirectly, to my final love affair too; a friend—and still a friend—made during a Patagonia trek in 2008 would, nine years later, introduce me to my partner—an avid traveler himself who’d traveled to Burma, Yemen, Komodo and Colombia across the same period.
Do I wish travel was more like it was in 2004? Sometimes, yes. Like in a Singapore hostel in 2014 in a lounge full of people on their phones, eye contact challenging. And of course, many places I visited have changed, sometimes unrecognizably so. But nostalgia is both friend and foe… On that Singapore trip, I still ended up in a food court sharing noodles and beers with new friends from a day tour. I also acknowledge and appreciate the safety that smartphones, wifi and booking ahead bring, particularly to women and vulnerable travelers.
Things will always change, we roll with it, as humans always do. In the end, whether you’re traveling for months or a week on vacation, whether budget or lux, some things don’t really change. You’re in your hometown one minute; next thing, a local guide is showing you a fruit you’ve never seen, you’re hiking five miles to a waterfall, and sipping beers with people you met an hour ago. And I don’t think that side of travel is going anywhere, anytime soon.