When travelling, one encounters many crossroads. I’ve had to handle my fair share of tough decisions in the past, and right now I’m at another fork in the road.
I’ve been on the move for six months now. It’s been a wonderful adventure, the six most unforgettable months of my life. I’ve had a pretty interesting existance over the past few years. Packing a bag and moving solo to Canada was pretty memorable. The years following that have been technicolour as life has evolved. I don’t regret a thing.
A lot of my friends, after graduating university, have gone in completely different directions. Many people my age have embraced the career life with vigour. Many have houses, families, steady jobs. I have none of that. I haven’t worked in six months and am currently sitting in the kitchen of an old Soviet apartment I share with Sarkiss, a Syrian-Armenian buddy, whilst listening to Gilles Peterson’s Worldwide Show, and feeding salami to Jethro – a street cat we hang out with fairly regularly. Life is good.
I could have gone the same way as my peers. By now, five years after graduating university, I could have a high flying media job in the big smoke of London. I could have financial security, and know what my future holds. I could have stability. But life is an adventure. We only have one life to do everything we want to do. And one chance to do it when we’re young. I spend most of my time chilling out with my friends, or going hitchhiking.
A lot of people plan for tomorrow. For retirement. But people work for 40 or 50 years before retiring. In that time, who knows what could happen. In that time, our bodies may not work as well, we may have different ailments, people may not be able to do what they wanted to do. What they planned for.
I invested three years of my life gaining my permanent residency to Canada. My only plan for tomorrow is Canada. Ultimately, I will settle there. Aside from that, I have nothing solid on my agenda. Right now, I prefer the uncertainty. I don’t even know what I’m doing this afternoon, letalone next week. I do know I’ll shortly be eating lunch – vegetable ragu -made by Victoria, another Syrian-Armenian friend. That’s about it.
Life is much more exciting this way. It makes decisions more difficult at times. It produces dilemmas. But they’re usually good dilemmas. I’d much prefer the dilemma of whether to go to Iran now, or stay longer having fun in Armenia.
That is what my current dilemma is. My buddy, James, and I have plans to hitchhike around Iran. Our visas are approved, ready to collect, we’re ready to go. The problems: Armenia is too much fun. I’ve made great friends and a great life here. I’d like to stay longer. Also, money is an issue. As I say, I haven’t worked in six months. The bank account continues to dwindle. The Iran visa is also absurdly expensive. We haven’t paid for them yet.
I have some job possibilities here, but the amount you can earn in Yerevan is extremely limited. If I can afford to save up money in Yerevan, rather than just tread water it will be worth staying around. If I can’t get anywhere, I should go to Iran whilst the weather is good, the bank account remains healthy, and the visa is still valid. I’m on a limited timescale. Time will tell what happens, but what I do know is that decision time is looming. Life is complicated. But it’s a good complication to have.
