I´ve been feeling badly recently regarding my lack of blogging on my travels. And by ´lack´ I of course mean I have yet to write anything. And I´ve been away since January! As someone who aspires to have a career in writing this is not great news.
It doesn´t help that every travelling Tom, Dick and Harry have also written blogs on a nearly daily basis, and have made a point of informing me of this regularly, suggesting that I ´check it out´. I don´t want to check it out. I barely know Mike from Scunthorpe, and I certainly don´t want to read his overly-flowery description of the hostel I´ve spent the last four weeks in. I´ve seen the iguanas too Mike.
But I fear my guilt-ridden bitterness is shining through...
The most annoying thing about all of this is I have probably written more in the last month or so than in the previous four combined. First and foremost there have been the numerous emails, text messages, BBM messages (some function on my Blackberry that I still don´t really understand...) and Facebook posts that I have used to communicate with loved ones back in Blighty.
I´ve also spent quite a fair bit of time writing in my travel journal - a black Moleskine notebook given to me for Christmas. I´ve become a bit obsessed with it actually, perhaps inspired by watching ´The Motorcycle Diaries´ just before I left. I don´t like to compare myself to Che Guevara, but if there´s any chance I one day become a famous author I have to make sure the diary of my travels reads well!
Still, this is the only old-fashioned way of charting my travels that I have so far used. The Internet has completely revolutionised the gap year. I thought I was escaping everything back home (trying to find myself etc.), but in some ways I feel like I´m just as plugged in to what is happening in London as I was when I was living there. And I haven´t even started on Skype. Not only can I speak to my family but I can see them too! Admittedly I had never used a webcam before so this had added wow-factor.
And so, in terms of practicality, it seems like the age of the postcard is over. Nevertheless, it is always nice to recieve a little token from someone´s adventures. I have my fingers crossed that the Costa Rican postal service sorts itself out soon...
