Was that my Last Contiki?

I’ve been on three. All very different. However it’s easiest to compare the first and the third. A 16 day tour in Australia ‘Reefs and Rainforests’ and a 26 day from La to NYC ‘Grand Southern’ Up until a few days ago I couldn’t really say which one was better. They were both awesome for different reasons and I feel they both served a purpose in my life.
But it is because of ‘Grand Southern’ that I have concluded that I probably won’t go on another one.
How I feel about Grand Southern is how I imagine an amicable breakdown of a relationship feels. I can look back an almost cry about how fantastic the whole thing was, but I know the same thing could never happen again. The time and place has gone and you can’t repeat something like that. I feel like unless you have been on one of these trips you can’t really understand what I mean. In the normal world you don’t become best friends with someone you’ve only known for 3 days, you don’t have a day song and you certainly don’t have 50 or so other ‘homeless’ people to keep you company. Because it’s so hard to explain or to put into words how I feel about this trip I may come across as a bit of an emotional nutter. I’m not, not really anyway.

After I finished Reefs and Rainforests I was a little dubious but still excited about what new tours might bring. It’s now been over 9 months since Grand Southern finished and to be honest there has not been a day I haven’t thought about it. It’s constantly on my mind, constantly making me smile. Even the things that weren’t particularly highlights at the time ( walking around Graceland in Memphis, falling asleep on a bus tour of the Kennedy Space Center, and  aimlessly wandering around Mardi Gras world in New Orleans. ) Suddenly these things have become much more interesting than life back at home.
I don’t think another trip would be quite able to compare. And at the same time I almost don’t want to let another trip try to. I don’t want another trip to step on the toes of this one. Especially not another one in America

I’m writing this and I’m not entirely sure whether or not I am fully committed to ‘I’m no going on another one’ . Things are subject to change along with my thoughts.  But for now, I have somewhat accepted that I won’t have another 26 days quite like that again. It makes me incredibly sad but at the same time incredibly happy for my experience and the friendships that I have gained. I wouldn’t say that the trip changed my life. It made my life.

‘Don’t Cry because it’s over, smile because it happened. ‘

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