I could’ve had a baby 
Exactly nine months ago, I left on this incredible adventure. The longest I’d ever been away was five weeks. My hair was trimmed short, and my backpack was bulging with clothes I later sent back. A return date was yet to be decided. Friends thought I was insane when I recited the list of twenty-two countries, especially since I wasn’t sure what I’d be doing in each. I didn’t even know most of the people I’d be traveling with. To be honest, it didn’t seem real to me at that point either.
Day by day, country by country, this trip has unfolded and exceeded all my expectations. It was often when I was back in Bangkok for a few days – to do laundry, sew a patch on, upload photos, organize my things – that I realized I was living my dream.
It was also during those stops in Bangkok that I realized how fortunate I am. Or how spoiled, depending on what mood I was in. I’ve been experiencing once in a lifetime opportunities back-to-back, visiting more places than many will in their entire lives. I’ve always been appreciative, but I’ve felt extremely guilty at times as well. It is now the homestretch, and rather than jam pack the next four days, I’m going to reflect on the past nine months. My Dad once related my situation to someone pushing back from a groaning buffet table. In an email, he wrote:
“You have been dining very richly on your experiences and seem to be experiencing something of a natural reaction. A diet may be in order to work off some of the excess and help appreciate both the lush and the lean. And it’s worth noting for someone as hungry for experience as you are that you can’t possibly eat everything at the buffet at one sitting – and shouldn’t want to. At some point, every journey must end, so that another can someday begin. And the wise traveler needs time to recover, to ruminate, to sit with himself and reflect on all he’s seen and done.”
I’m just a total random 23 year old canadian male backpacker checkin out your pictures on the net and just finished reading your dads email. I’ve never even heard of you but I know exactly how you were feeling when your dad wrote you that email. It sums it up perfect. I guess I experienced a similar but deffinately different trip a few years ago and I’m now planning on starting off on another. Just had to comment on it as I copied it to a word file to save for someone else.
March 30th, 2007 at 11:36 pmThanks man
Lunch hour in England. You didn’t know you’d been travelling here as well, did you?. You have been my lunch time rendez-vous for the past five months, ever since I logged on to try to locate your parents at New Years - I gave up waiting for Melvoin Whereabouts in the Holiday Missive. I have also given regular reports to David and Jim (”Charlie’s been doing Carnaval in Brazil for the past 6 days”) and to fellow architects here in the office (”Still only eighteen ‘cos his birthday was here last July”).
Thanks, Charlie, from all of us vicarious travellers tied in to wintertime and responsiblity to a routine in a single time zone. Here’s looking at you, kid - I’ll miss you. At least now we’ll know exactly where to go when we get the time and the energy and the languages and the money and the ingenuity and the youth and the nerve and the… well. someday. Thanks for taking us with you. And thank God we’ve got you to ride that bike for us from the Andes summit down to the rainforest - best way to travel.
Hope to catch a glimpse in July.
Love, Margaret & chaps
May 17th, 2006 at 6:20 amWow, nice backpack! Someone really cool must have gotten it for you. The post brought a tear to the eye. I don’t know which is harder for me to believe, that you have been gone for so long, or that you will be home so soon. I can’t wait to see you.
May 16th, 2006 at 2:54 pm~Hailey
Our dear Charlie: Once again, your post brought some tears. What a remarkable human being. You are an inspiration to us all and we can’t wait to finally see you! Enjoy the last days of your incredible adventure and come home safe. BIENVENIDO A AMERICA!! GOOD BOY CHARLIE….
May 16th, 2006 at 11:35 am