Echoes of Inspiration

by jonathan reeve (Japan)

I didn't expect to find United Kingdom

“I’ll be back before you know it” I managed to say as my tightened. The sounds of the busy airport became muted as I fought back the urge to cry. Looking at my brother and sister stood at the departure terminal, my eyes were drawn nephew with his handmade sign. I felt a wave of sadness about going travelling and leaving them behind. I suddenly realised, how much I was going to miss them. Our birthday parties where home-baked cakes would be proudly shared, going to our parent's house for Sunday roast, all sat on the sofa getting excited about the smell of roast beef and potatoes like we were all 10 again was ending. But the need for travel and exploration was just too strong, and at the age of 28, it was now or never for me. I waved them one last goodbye and started my 2 years away. As the plane was heading to my first destination and sadness of the goodbye weighing heavy I tried to understand where my passion for travel came from. I recalled flicking through my father's old travel magazines, looking at the faces of people who seemed so far away and different. Distant landscapes and vistas looked like alien landscapes to me. The need for adventure began and time only served to further nurture those seeds in me. I did everything I planned to do, I trekked the humid jungles of north Thailand, I tasted the local Empanada’s while exploring small towns in Chile, I watched the peached coloured infused sunrise on the Taj Mahal, I dived with Manta rays in Indonesia after learning to Scuba dive in Vietnam, I hiked the Hollywood sign in LA, I watched Kabuki theatre in Japan and climbed glaciers in New Zealand. Some of my planned experiences didn’t meet my expectations whilst others imprinted themselves on me forever. Dreams that were realised in my childhood became a reality. I looked forward to hearing from my family on our monthly video calls. It was only seeing my nephew slowly mature through the screen that I understood the length of time I was away. The boy I waved goodbye too was growing, physically and emotionally. Our conversations changed, where once I spoke to a child I began speaking to a young adult. What I was gaining in my life through travel was equalled by what I was losing by not being around him whilst he was growing up. The time came where his interests in my calls waned. Once where his excited face would be vying for space on the screen with my sister to show me his latest colourful masterpiece or toy was now an empty space. His interest in my adventures seemingly lost. I arrived home and was greeted warmly by my brother and sister, at the very spot where I said goodbye 2 years earlier. Although the 3 people stood there were the same people, it was clear we were different. The events that had occurred in our lives during the time had changed our relationship. We conjured up our childhood memories and the connections we once had were re-ignited and our sibling bonds restored. My relationship with my nephew, however fragmented and distant. Without a shared history the connection with him was never the same. The sense that I had failed him as an uncle weighed heavy in my heart. I had torn away from my responsibility to guide and inspire him in life through my need to travel. But on my return I felt somehow complete, travel had given me a sense of contentment I couldn’t have gained by any other means. Meeting a partner, marriage and my own children came in quick succession. Before I knew it, the possibility of long-distance travel was gone with the need for stability and financial security taking over. It was on a spring morning when the air has a lightness and sweet scent that’s only released after a long winter that my sister called me. ‘He’s going travelling’ she said in a heavy tone, referring to my nephew. She seemed upset, disheartened somehow. “He’ll be back before you know it, “ I told her.