Adulting

Adulting 
Verb
To carry out one or more of the duties and responsibilities expected of fully developed individuals 

Being the wholesome age of almost 24 I have been exposed to almost 6 years of being an (by English definition) “adult" Some might say 5 years because that’s when I (hopefully) permanently “flew the nest” well….jumped on an Emirates flight to Australia and began my life as a professional hobo and doing the equivalent of living in the park, drinking cheap booze and snatching up any opportunity for anything with the words “free” in front of.

Something that was been playing on my mind throughout my 12 hours of basically nonstop scootering around South East Asia was that wow, I have managed to live this long and wow, what a life so far I’ve lived. If I’m 'adulting', maybe I’m doing it really well…or maybe I’m doing it really wrong. Either way I’m happy with whatever side of the fence you stand on with that. 5 years 10 months and 18 days ago when I turned 18, finally after months of having to sneak into after parties for god-knows-what band across the country, I was blessed that I could legitimately do everything I had dreamed of as a child…eating icecream FOR BREAKFAST; staying up to watch 12A films when they were on past 9pm, drinking Sunny D in the living room (yeah mum, I’ve never forgotten when I spilt it on the floor in Broadfield and you went mental and banned it from the front room) and the list goes on. But one observation I’ve made is that your freedom as an adult is fully rebelling from everything adults told you to not do as a child. I’ve made a list of a few of those.

-          “Don’t play in traffic”

Right, so take a minute to open a new tab (but don’t close my blog) and youtube “Traffic in Ho Chi Minh” and you will see the chaos (written about on this blog here) that ensues. Looks catastrophic, right? But it works! And boy, is it fun to ride a scooter. So playing in traffic gets a big thumbs up and recommendation from me (but for the love of god, wear a helmet)

-“Don’t accept sweets from strangers”

Unless it’s some dodgy geezer in a grotty club asking if you’d met his friend Charlie, or Mandy maybe (maybe) they are some sweets you might think twice bout accepting. But from my travels the kindness that comes from people who have significantly less than you and even though you might not speak a word of the same language they will insist you share a beer with them and some of the sweetest fruits I’ve ever had have come from the hand of a stranger. Although drinks, I am still cautious of. So maybe a *small* word of wisdom there.

-“If XXXX jumped off a cliff, would you do the same?”

Naaa, of course not! Do you think I’m stupid? If bloody Tara from bloody Bath can free jump off an 8meter high cliff and frekkin’ Dave from Stoke On Trent can do 10meters- find me the biggest cliff you can I wouldn’t do the same I’d do better.

-“Don’t get in the car with strangers”

A free ride and a cracking conversation? Count me in! Whether it’s to save me the dreaded down-piest route from my ski season at 3am with a group of frenchies who obviously (and smartly) found their designated driver, or a £50 cab because apparently there’s no busses on a Sunday in the west coast of England (developed country, eh?). I’ve met people on my travels who have shared rides with pigs, goats, sidecars, trucks, and 1000 chickens.

Hitchhiking gets a big thumbs up from me!

-“Don’t talk to strangers”

Don’t make me laugh.

 “Don’t lick a knife”

Okay, maybe I’ve done this. Probably still recommended.