BootsnAll Travel Community

Hi all...
I'm getting pretty close to beginning my second RTW trip.

I got home from the first one in June 2005, and immediately started making plans for the next one. Now, come August, I'll be headed for a year's working holiday in NZ, followed by a looooong slow trip home through Asia.

Doubtless this sounds (and will be) wonderful, but compared to the first time there's something missing. Sure, I'm looking forward to it, but there's just not the same overwhelming rush of excitement and anticipation.

I'd enjoy hearing from others who have made more than one extended trip. How did later sojurns differ from the first, both in terms of preparation and the experiences on the road?

Thanks in advance for your stories.

I did three of them and was completely jazzed each time. On the second one I started in a totally different part of the world, so there was no sense of deja vu. Was in route to a job too. Four months travel, 13 months working. Came home for Christmas then left on RTW number 3 for a year. I never got jaded or tired of it--I'd do it all again.

I guess since you've probably done it once, you've lost the trepidation and anxiety that you had going around the first time. I guess it's human nature to try and push ourselves one step farther, to try and regain some of that joy we felt before. Maybe spice up your trip with some adventure activites?

Much of that excitement you felt the first time was anxiety and its relaxation.

I find, the more I travel, the more I look forward to DIFFERNT kinds of things. Now I dislike routine travel hassles, when before, it was an adventure just to track down a lost bag in a foriegn language.

I look forward to getting to the nitty gritty of a trip, and seeing old and new friends, seeing and learning new things.

Its a rush just to master the art of jamming oneself into a chicken bus, but once mastered, one looks forward to putting the energy into other things.

Travelling, like anything else, is a growing experience.

What used to be the thrill of knowing I can survive with a job in a foriegn country, sans any other means of support, morphs into precautions so I don't get into such desperate straits again. Maybe its me, and I'm just getting older!!!

Travel and grow, my friend

Thanks for the replies everyone.

You've all made some wonderful points, especially you Tortuga...

I think you've come very close to the roots of my feelings, and reading your thoughts has given me a better understanding of them. This has me even more excited than I already was for the upcoming trip!

Thanks again.