Many of us, if asked, have a secret wish to travel to a .............tropical island............the Antarctic complete with husky dogs......... a romantic ball in Vienna or a hike along part of the El Camino.
The following cautionary tale should alert you..........
Read, and be warned!
When Pat told me that our confirmed bachelor friend Mike had invited her to travel with him to India I was frankly tinged with green for several days.
Her dream of the magic of India was about to be realised.
She had wanted to travel to this mysterious place in search of enlightenment ever since seeing the movie, Eat, Pray, Love. Afraid to do it on her own, she saw Mike as her knight in shining armour.
Mike is well known for his, shall we say, ‘charm’ but his proposal to travel together was for expediency rather than romance. It made for a very attractive proposition.
He is known to have a good knowledge of all the best places to visit and is excellent company.
Before they left he mentioned his desire to use all the local forms of transport and she glibly agreed, ‘great idea - a good way to meet the locals.’
‘You have no idea,’ she groaned to me, ‘ what the heat is like in India in mid summer. Take Durban at its worst and double it……….temperatures of 40’Centigrade were ‘normal’. My goodness it felt as though I was trying to breathe through pea soup.’
‘But I bet Mike swanned around being charming through it all, his trade mark scarf round his neck as usual?’
‘Oh yessss, and people were mesmerised by him wherever we went. That would have been fine and we had an exciting itinerary planned, BUT I had no idea how debilitating the HEAT was.’
We sipped our wine for a silent minute. I was horrifed.
‘We did what should have been a gorgeous trip into the hills to a tea plantation. I enjoyed being at least 5’C cooler than in the valley but the journey was so long………… first a Tuk Tuk to the bus station, then 2 hours in a crowded ram shackled vehicle with a chicken or two for company and no air conditioning. We sat and poured sweat………..everybody! Then there was a 2 and a half hours in a train up into the hills…………we poured more sweat.
At the end of the tour which was largely outside we had to repeat the journey home.
At the end of an debilitating day, I lay on my bed under the fan and wondered how on earth I had survived.
When I suggested to Mike that we take an air conditioned taxi for our sight seeing trip on the following day he stared at me aghast. He screeched with horror and told me that that was the point of India. One had to get up close and personal with the locals to get the full experience of this exotic country.’
She groaned and put her head in her hands. ‘From then on he did his thing and I did mine. On top of it all I discovered that a diet of spicy food upset my stomach.’
She burst out laughing, shaking her head……’in future I’ll be very careful what I wish for.’
Once,I taught in a school where a colleague was describing a fabulous sounding trip that she was planning. Hardly serious, I said to her, ‘how I’d love to go to Bangkok with you.’
She looked me in the eye and said seriously and rather fiercely,’ I travel alone. I am absolutely selfish and do not want to have to compromise on anything to anybody.’
‘What about your husband?’ I asked lamely..
‘He in particular stays at home……….with the dogs,’ she said firmly as though that explained it all.
I’ve often pondered over what she said.
At first I thought it was a ridiculous notion. Surely half the fun of traveling and broadening one’s horizons is to share your experiences with someone else. But as I listened to my friend Pat’s experiences and huge disappointment trying to come to grips with Mike’s lack of co-operation, it dawned on me that reality is that different people want different things.
Sometimes even close relationships do not survive extended travelling together.
So what is in the pipeline for me, holiday wise?
I am going on a luxurious cruise around the Mediterranean.
Pixabay
Part of the deal is that I can decide at whatever little port, village or town along the way I would like to linger for a few days and enjoy a glass or two of local wine, or hike, or swim in the azure water.
I can't wait!
But above all...............
I WILL DO IT ALONE.
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