I used to be nineteen, recent out of faculty and unwilling to embark on the following three years of finding out with out having some life expertise underneath my belt. So, I did what each different middle-class teen did within the early 2000s: hot-footed my method to STA Journey (this was again once you went into an precise journey agent to ebook a flight reasonably than doing so on-line) and purchased myself a around the world ticket.
I knew I wished to go to India, Thailand, and New Zealand earlier than making my manner from the west coast of the USA to New York – my last vacation spot and the place I had wished to go to since I used to be somewhat woman. However, the journey agent satisfied me so as to add Hong Kong and Australia to my route.
I discovered myself in April 2005 on a one-way flight to Delhi, utilizing the battered mustard backpack my dad had taken with him when touring round Brazil a few years prior.
India was past what I ever may have imagined it to be. It was a melting pot of cultures and colours. And, though at instances I discovered it a tough nation to journey by way of as an basically younger, blonde, clueless teenager, there was one thing intoxicating concerning the nation. Plus, seeing the Taj Mahal because the solar rose over the horizon is a reminiscence I am going to always remember.
It was in Goa, a state on the southwestern coast of India that was beforehand colonized by the Portuguese, that I met Becs. What felt like a very totally different world to northern India, Goa is a sun-soaked state. Indian tradition intertwines with Portuguese influences, and Goa is most well-known for its seashores.
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It was on my penultimate day in Palolem that Becs joined our desk for dinner. We have been a gaggle of strangers from numerous cities throughout the globe, purchased collectively by a love of touring. As quickly as I knew her shock of blonde hair, I we have been going to be mates.
We swapped emails on the finish of the night and she or he promised she’d get in contact when she arrived in Thailand – 5 days after I landed in Bangkok.
By the point Becs arrived in Thailand, I used to be in Ko Phagnan, eagerly awaiting Haad Rin’s much-talked-about full moon celebration. I had befriended a lady referred to as Rach who I would met on the again of a tuk-tuk, and the three of us slotted into a straightforward friendship.
After partying our manner across the islands, we moved north to Bangkok after which Chiang Mai, conserving a diary collectively to chart our adventures and mishaps.
I keep in mind leaving them each sitting amongst a mattress of backpacks on the again of an open-roofed truck prefer it was yesterday. Rach and Becs have been each touring for a 12 months and had extra time to discover southeast Asia, whereas I had a flight to Hong Kong to board.
We purchased friendship bracelets that have been branded with the phrases “have hope” and, after writing me goodbye notes in our diary, they left it with me to take care of till our deliberate reunion on British soil.
Besides the reunion wasn’t to be. I used to be in New Zealand after I acquired an e-mail from Rachel explaining that Becs had collapsed whereas on a seashore in Vietnam. Having didn’t regain consciousness, she’d been airlifted to a hospital in Bangkok, with Rachel by her aspect.
I keep in mind crying inconsolably within the arms of a stranger in a lodge foyer in Wanaka on the South Island of New Zealand, earlier than falling right into a cab and flying to the states a lot sooner than deliberate.
I saved in contact with Rach as a lot as I used to be in a position to. I did not have a cellular phone, so I relied on pay telephones, however it was clear Becs would not pull by way of.
As a substitute of New York, a spot I had dreamed about for thus lengthy, I flew residence earlier for Becs’s funeral. She died at age 30 from a mind tumor that had gone undetected till her collapse.
It was solely after her loss of life that I may carry myself to learn the letter she had left me in our diary.
Eleven years older than I used to be, but six years youthful than I’m now, Bec’s phrases have been filled with knowledge that has stood the take a look at of time.
“I want to share some phrases of knowledge,” she started, “do with them as you want, ignore them, apply them, have a look at them once more later in life?”
“Attempt to not place an excessive amount of significance on materials issues,” Becs wrote. “You will note sooner or later that they aren’t essential. Love your self and your loved ones and mates. That is essential. ALWAYS permit time for them. Take each alternative you’ll be able to, no going again. Make selections from the guts.”
“Be in contact,” was her last piece of recommendation, “I hope I’ve discovered a pal for all times in you.”
If solely she knew, not simply how usually I’d learn her phrases, however how I carry them with me each day. I prefer to assume she’s with me, at all times.
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