A Time to Pause

We had fallen completely in love with Serbia – a place which barely registers on the tourist scale and which many people believe is an aggressive country best avoided. That may be true of its government but is entirely wrong of its people. It is also beautiful – did I mention that?

We were heading into Montenegro, a country with an entirely different image. One of peace and tranquillity, nature at its best and with high tourism appeal. It’s also the next country destined to join the EU so safe and welcoming

But we were not that excited about it. In fact, it felt a little as though we were just going through the motions.

We had been so pleased to leave the EU and enter Bosnia all those months ago, cutting the chord of predictability and familiarity. And for all that Bosnia was new and undiscovered, Serbia took that to a completely different level. Almost everything we found had been authentic, they haven’t grown their safe tourist veneers yet

Was Montenegro going to be a backwards step, returning us to a culture all too familiar, full of little white motorhomes and tourist traps? Would we even find the real Montenegro at all?

I have to be honest and say that since leaving Africa I have struggled with the sameness of things. I have generally felt more like a tourist than an explorer. My research into each country has become increasingly difficult because to get beneath the ‘top 10 best things for a tourist to do’ was almost impossible.

Except for Serbia and we loved Serbia. There is a theme here.

The world is a huge and wonderful place. I want to see it, experience it and immerse myself in it whilst I still can. I have spent my life longing to be a gypsy of no fixed abode, taking life as it comes, and for 4 years that’s exactly what we did

Then we got to Europe.

And now I am a tourist. Being scammed like a tourist, being herded like a tourist, being surrounded by tourists

We meet guides and waiters with their eyes glazed over, saying the same thing all day every day to the never ending line of tourists . As soon as we ask something a little different or they find out we’re not here on holiday but rather live in that rather snazzy truck parked over there, their cultivated image is gone and they are genuinely interested in us. The trouble is, are we still interested in them?

So why is this coming out now? It has been simmering away under the surface since we started travelling in BigMog. France, Switzerland and Italy were lovely but they were supposed to be a short interlude before the main adventure started again.

Bosnia kick-started that adventure beautifully and Serbia had us feeling as though we really were back to what we love – exploring, discovering, living off our wits and the kindness of strangers

But now we were heading back into fully chartered territory. We were going in the wrong direction.

I figured we could cope with 4 weeks in Montenegro and then be back into the unknown in Albania. That was until I started researching Albania only to find out that we are about five years too late. Albania is now also a very touristy country with its path becoming very well-worn. It is even going to be joining the EU itself in 2030, only two years after Montenegro.

And after that? Greece, then Turkey. Not exactly off the beaten track either.

Maybe Armenia, Georgia, Russia and the Stans will give us more of what we are looking for. I haven’t started any work on those countries yet but talking to fellow travellers would suggest that they are less trampled and retain a culture that owes more to their roots and less to TikTok.

And what about the old question of Henry vs BigMog? Where did that land?

Badly actually, for a long time.

Henry offers the simple life, the outdoor life, a connection with nature – because he has no indoor alternative. Star gazing, tree whispering, animal spotting, darkness engulfing. True bliss

But he also offers absolutely no shelter from cold, wind, rain or mosquitoes. In fact he doesn’t even offer any real protection from the sun, even under the awning

BigMog offers comfort, protection, convenience. But he is so comfortable and convenient that we all too often forget to sit outside or just choose not to when we really should because ‘it’s a little nippy out’.

We also end up staying overnight in less than picturesque places because they’re free and we therefore have more of our budget to spend on other things. But at what ultimate cost?

BigMog has grown on me slowly but surely as I have recognised that we really could not have travelled to the places we have been over the last year or so in Henry as the climate outside Africa is just not suitable for him

My head has been going round and round in circles on this. There is no doubt that our lives have not been as captivating as they were before. I miss the feeling of living outdoors surrounded by nature. I feel more as though I live in a little house that keeps moving rather than living in the great outdoors experiencing everything the world has to offer

But I can’t deny that many of the experiences we have had, many of the things we have seen and done over the last year have been absolutely spectacular. I am regularly struck by the thought that we live the most remarkable lives and are incredibly lucky to be seeing and doing what we are.

And I would not give back the last year’s worth of memories, even for a year’s worth of the African outdoors.

So it’s different, but maybe not worse. Maybe a few little tweaks here and there would make a big difference – fewer car parks, more pretty campsites.

Or maybe we just need to get to places that are less familiar – both to us and to the rest of the tourists. But wishing our lives away in chunks of a few months here and a year there to get to the best bits is not a great idea, we only have one life after all and there are no re-runs.

There is one other factor that is weighing in on all this. We left Henry in Namibia in August 2024. We have to take him out of the country every two years and bring him back in on a new carnet (fundamentally his passport) and that means we are returning to him and to Namibia very soon. We plan to spend three months there, visiting our friends as well as travelling around – we have to go to Angola to reset the carnet but could also visit Botswana or even South Africa.

That trip could really put the cat amongst the pigeons. It will certainly test our resolve to travel the world. Maybe it will reinforce our desire to remain nomads or maybe it will simply remind us of what we have left behind. And if that happens then just how much will need to change…