“As long as we don’t die, this is going to be one hell of a story” – Jaz & Jess from England

I’ve never met Jaz and Jess but I’m pretty sure I’d like them. I don’t condone graffiti but I have to say I did enjoy reading this written on the wall as I brushed my teeth in Penang, Malaysia. And to be fair to Jaz and Jess they weren’t the only ones who had graffited – it seemed to be acceptable, if not encouraged, in this particular spot so we’ll let them off for now.

We all have a story, each and every one of us. My current story involves me sitting on my friend’s toilet in Sydney watching a builder in the flat opposite. This isn’t really ideal because the window is open, as are the blinds and I’m pretty sure he can see me too. Maybe I’ll give him a wave…

I like hearing other people’s stories. Unless they’re boring, then I totes cba to listen to them. Sometimes I think about my own stories and wonder if I’d believe them if someone else told me them. Probably not. But it got me thinking as I sat on the toilet waving at my builder friend, about our adventures so far. Personally I think we’ve given them our all, we’ve done and seen so much – not many people could leave India with a £1.50 haircut like ours (yes our fringes are beginning to grow out now). Not many people have had a monkey sit on their face or climbed a volcano or hurdled an alligator. And no, we haven’t just got drunk (except in Bali). And so far, fortunately we haven’t died.  We’ve learnt a lot of things. For example Lyvette has learnt that she’s scared of everything, Tiger Balm can solve all of the world’s problems and that she likes to cuddle strangers on bus journeys. I have learnt the importance of having toenails, the delights of corn on the cob flavoured crisps and that I actually have no clothes (this is becoming a problem).  I have also learnt that I have a wicked pac a mac collection and that white clothes do not remain white. Apparently Asia don’t use Daz.

The chapter/s in our story based in Asia are over. For now. And we loved it. We both loved India. I still miss India, the place, the people, the tuk tuks. Lyvette loved Vietnam and Singapore. I loved Indonesia. To be honest we didn’t want the Asian chapter of our story to end, we didn’t want to leave. It was emotional. Heading to Australia was almost an anti climax (don’t hate me for saying that!) We felt ‘meh’ and wondered why we had ever wanted to go venture there, which is silly, because it’s a beautiful country. We had left our travelling friends, the Asian culture, cheap prices and lack of rules and regulations behind, we were heading back to the real world. And after 5 months out, the real world is a tough place to be, it takes some getting used to. But then we came to terms with it and realised that this is the nature of the game, we were being daft and we still had so much to see and do. We were still loving life as nomads.

We realised we are just moving into the next chapter of the story. And every chapter in our story will be eventful because that’s just how we roll (I just waved at the builder by the way).

So I still stand by Jaz and Jess and maintain that as long as we don’t die this is going to be one hell of a story. And this story is far from over.