After spending two weeks travelling with me it felt only right to offer Rosaline the opportunity to write a post for megtherollingegg.com. I’m extremely honoured that she agreed and I’m very happy to share her words with you below. Get ready to read the best written post of the blog so far!
By Rosaline
I would like to first of all thank Meg for allowing me to guest-write on her blog - a gorgeous hub of writing that I can only hope to contribute to gracefully. Of course, until now, you’ve only heard the rolling egg’s point of view of things. Having spent the last two weeks (including two days of horrendous food poisoning) joined at the hip - I feel adequately prepared and qualified to reveal to you the true Megan.
I’ve left summarising our holiday to the lovely host and subject of this post. Just know that I adored the kayaking, the cliff jumping, the horse riding, the walks, the hikes, the swims - both clothed and not - and the many meals we shared. Except the one meal that led to violent vomiting. Those meat sticks get a bad review.
I’ve known Meg for five years now, through her biology degree, her move to the big city, her conversion to law, and her planning for this trip. She’s been committed, driven, and passionate about everything she’s done in this time. She’s been up for a laugh, there for a cry, has listened to my stories and told me hers, and has always been the most devoted of friends. She even delayed this trip to be at my graduation. And brought me flowers. Five-star review. So you can imagine how excited I was to be able to travel with her for a few weeks after two long months of not seeing each other - and before a much longer stretch of having to communicate solely through a screen.
My aim for this post is to tell you all about the Megan behind the scenes. When I booked to join Meg in the Balkans, I was in the midst of exam revision and gladly left all planning to her, and boy did she deliver. Meg mentions below that you learn a lot about a person while travelling with them, and I got to see how perfectly Meg can balance planning with spontaneity. Maybe it’s the two months of experience she’s accumulated, or maybe it’s an inherent skill, but Meg has a wonderful ability to plan a trip that is full of activity but never feels rushed. I admit I may have been a tad too easy going - providing no strong opinion at all most days - but I hope that’s a testament to the full trust I had in my wonderful companion.
Hereby some of the things I learned about Meg on our trip:
⁃ She is an expert packer. She has been living out of a single backpack for the last three months and has managed not to accumulate any more possessions than she started with. To illustrate how much of an achievement that is, I arrived with a single backpack and left two weeks later with that same backpack, two more bags, a pair of water shoes, and a hat.
⁃ She knows how to strategise her snacks. I learned that trail mix is nutrient dense and volume dense, making it a perfect snack for a hungry traveller. I learned that you should buy biscuits that you find edible but not too tasty, so they last longer (how long she can make them last is one of her recurring personal challenges). Meg carries with her a block of cheese, mayonnaise, and peanut butter at all times. She would love to carry marmite but this is sadly not a common spread outside of the UK. I don’t blame the rest of the world for that.
⁃ Meg has a serenity about the future that I have not seen in many people. Alongside some healthy nerves about travelling through the ‘stans knowing so little about what that experience will be like, she has a faith in the future that keeps her going.
⁃ She can sleep anywhere. Except when we’re on a bus to Albania and she believes we’re being trafficked. And then she has the selfless instinct not to worry me with that belief. A true friend.
⁃ Meg is absolutely obsessed with card games. This isn’t new information to me, but I thought I’d reiterate how much Meg loves card games.
In all seriousness, it’s been an absolute pleasure travelling with Meg and seeing her so completely in her element. Through all the time I’ve known her, I knew there was an adventurous spirit and a curiosity about the world that could only be satiated by an experience like this, and I’m so happy she’s getting to do it. Her travel ethos is all about the authentic experience. A lot of people treat travelling almost as a country bucket list - racing through each one trying to tick them off, without standing still to properly look at them. Meg has a wonderful way of speaking to locals about their culture, researching each country’s history, and committing to their customs and traditions. Meg doesn’t just eat a burek, she eats a burek with yogurt, as the locals do. Meg doesn’t just sit back in a taxi, she asks the driver about his experience of the war. Meg travels actively rather than coasting through, and I think that’s beautiful.
Thanks, Meg, for the most glorious of weeks - I’ll look back on the entire experience (yes, entire, because even the horrendous food poisoning was almost a pleasure with you) with fondness forever, and I can’t wait to watch the rest of your journey across the world.