Living on the road has made all the everyday things we used to worry about seem irrelevant. After two years on the road I am worried I have taken the self-sufficient ‘bubble’ to the extreme. All I think about is: where are we going to camp tonight; what are we going to eat; and what’s to look at. I used to read papers, listen to the news, and take an interest in the world. I hate to admit it but I now feel totally disinterested in political posturing in Canberra or even faraway earthquakes. I found out about the Boston bombings a week late during a campfire chat. The gathering was appalled that my husband and I were so ‘cut off’. Has the Big Lap turned my brain to mush? Will I ever care again?
Josephine
It is inevitable as you travel into remote and interesting places that your thoughts will be more occupied by the ‘here and now’. Of course, policy announcements about childcare allowances or Sydney traffic reports won’t seem as pertinent as you shake the red dust off your campchair. When – and if – you return to ‘normal’ life you’ll find your curiosity about different issues return and, hard as it is to imagine now, the price of van parks and the locations of the nearest free camps will then seem less important. Enjoy the simplicity of your life now Josephine … there’s plenty of time to catch up on the news in a year or two.
Jaclyn
You’re on the road, Josephine … not on the way out. When I was a girl, my dad used to make me listen to the radio news at least twice a day. He said if I didn’t know what was happening in the rest of the country and the rest of the world how could I possibly appreciate what I had. It’s true. We all have to be able to put our lives and our ‘troubles’ into perspective. Of course you are not going to have the same access to information when you are travelling as when you lived ‘at home’ but ignorance is not bliss … it’s just ignorance! You simply have to care what is happening around you. If nothing else, imagine the embarrassment if you get roped into a grey nomad trivia night and you don’t know who the president of Burkino Fasa is?
Heidi
