The End of The Road - Cue Tears

We woke early and painfully to begin the final stretch across the Mojave Desert into Anaheim, California, where it would be time to say goodbye.

The mood on the bus was weird. It was eerily quiet and people were more withdrawn than usual. I was nervous about going back into hostels and the impending Fiji trip because America had been such a wonderful bubble.

As we drew closer to Anaheim, Jason played ‘Time of Your Life’ by Greenday and all the girls lost it.

Sunglasses covering our swollen eyes, we pulled into the Best Western hotel car park and got off the bus for the last time.

After many rounds of hugs and tears, Steph, Sarwah, Brendan and I climbed into a cab to make the 40-minute journey to our hostel on Hollywood Boulevard. Our American road trip was over.

*****

It was in LA where I had my own emotional meltdown.

I had seen it happen to a couple of people along the way, but now it was my turn. Contiki North America was over, we had checked into a cramped hostel room with two slightly odd Austrian guys (one of which had insane eyes and very quickly developed a crush on Steph), I was hung over and my clothes were dirty after a long day on the coach.

We were in a Thai restaurant on Hollywood Boulevard and Brendan had gone to the liquor store, leaving us three sat in silence at the bar. Steph suddenly said, “I feel a bit overwhelmed” and I lost it. I didn’t even attempt to hold back the tears like I had so often done in the past. I sat and cried, face in hands in full view of the staring, curious Americans.

I wanted everything I didn’t have in that moment; my own room, a real towel, my mum and a TV playing re-runs of ‘Friends’, basically just home comforts. Luckily the guys rallied around and were totally supportive, so it wasn’t long before I had calmed down.

I think I am telling you this little story because before I came travelling, nobody had mentioned that sometimes, it’s really bloody hard. And I don’t think there’s any shame in talking about the bad times as well as the good. Travelling isn’t all koala bears and beach parties, and I realised that it’s OK to feel a bit shit and a bit homesick, it doesn’t mean you aren’t appreciating how lucky you are to be seeing the world, you are just being human.

It was afterwards when I was having a beer in the hostel and talking to Brendan that I had one of those ‘how crazy is life?’ moments. I thought back to the year before and how down I had been about various things. I never would have thought that a year on, I would be on Hollywood Boulevard, close to tears and musing about life with an Australian bloke having just travelled across North America.

I suddenly remembered what my long suffering driving instructor, Malc, had said to me last year, “Julie, if you don’t like your life, then change it.”

I didn’t, so I did.