When we took, a round the world trip back in the early 90’s it was difficult to stay in touch. The internet was in its infancy and we had to rely on snail mail (sent to prearranged addresses in the hope that it got there before we did) and the infrequent and costly phone calls home. We discovered, same as ET that “phone home” was not always possible.
In this day of emails, Skype, text messaging, blogs and Facebook you would think that staying in touch with family and friends while travelling would be easy. It is as long as you can find an internet connection, but it does take some conscious effort. It is all too easy to get caught up with the excitement of the moment and making future plans without a thought to those back home wondering where the heck you are.
Yes, we have been guilty of going days or sometimes weeks without emailing home, posting something on Facebook or sending out a newsletter (which are our primary ways of keeping in touch). However close family and friends know we check and respond to emails daily, giving them the chance to reach out and give us a gentle poke ”Hey, where are you what are you up to?” if necessary.
Communication is a two way street as they say and although we do our best to stay in touch, it is important for us to get messages back from family, friends and our fellow Escapees as well.
We have a very dear friend who decided that like us, life was too short to not be doing what you want. He sold up his belongings and took off to explore and travel. We were happy to see him doing what he wanted and loved following his adventures through his Facebook posts. Then the posts became less frequent and the odd email we received bought relief that he was OK, but also concerns………. Where was he, (apart from somewhere in Asia) and was he OK?
His last Facebook post was in April 2014 and the last email we received a response to was a year ago! We have no way of contacting his family and friends other than Facebook friends and have no way of finding out what is going on his world.
Yes, we have wondered if he is alive or dead. The only glimmer of hope we have, is that he signed up for our regular newsletter updates. Thanks to the marvels of technology we do know that someone at that email address is opening and clicking though the contents.
The moral of the story is that whoever you are and whatever you are doing someone somewhere does want to hear from you. Whether you are a relocated retiree, a busy professional or a nomadic retiree, do keep in touch with the people that are important to you. All it takes is a moment and you will have made their day!
As always we want to hear from you.
Note: Since writing we have heard from our ‘lost’ friend and he is still in the land of the living.
