Julia D’Orazio recaps what it’s like to be a soon-to-be aged-out millennial on a tour targeted to 18-to-30-somethings
The expiry date looms for my youth. I’m at the pointy end of an 18-to-30-somethings G Adventures tour and edge even closer to the next milestone while on the road. Being on a 13-day overland camping tour from South Africa to Namibia is my swan song for youth travel. But will my decision to feel forever young backfire?
I first meet my tour group at Cape Town’s Curiocity Hostel Green Point. Twenty-one youngish faces are seated in a circle, engulfing the hostel’s communal area. As our tour guide starts our trip briefing, I study summer wardrobe choices: 90s-inspired, Burks, Crocs, crew socks. Jandals are a no-show. Decoding decades through footwear makes me internally freak out. My ankle socks are a generation giveaway. The thought of ‘What have I got myself into?’ rages in my mind. I’m a dinosaur among the mostly Gen Z group, the youngest – a friendly trio of Englishmen – barely legal at 18. The feeling of being from a bygone era is reinforced when the young Brits struggle to name all the Spice Girls.
Inexcusable pop culture lapses aside, my gamble to be “youthful” takes me back to when I was their age, embarking on my first backpacking adventure throughout Southeast Asia. Travel looked different in 2006. Connect to Wi-Fi – what’s that? Instead, international phone cards, internet cafes reigned supreme. Getting around was more of a challenge. There were no phones that did it all: no apps, no Google Maps. Fortunately, there was no desire – or social pressure – to document each move and broadcast it to the masses online.
Julia with Kiwi friends in Namibia's Sandwich Harbour. Photo / Julia D'Orazio
Social media wasn’t around to sway me to visit this cafe, that city or to stay “here”. There were no videos teaching me how to become a minimalist or a smart packer. Instead, I lugged a big blue Lonely Planet brick for guidance. I was overly cautious, flaunting items that scream tourist, such as locking my 65L backpack with an anti-theft steel cable and accessorising outfits with a hideous beige money belt that still haunts me today. If I had more visibility on how others toured and had the travelling street smarts that I do now, I know I would’ve been just fine using my everyday bag (a tote bag) and a padlock.
How I want to experience the world has also changed greatly since my early travels. While G Adventures offers a range of tours aimed at different comfort levels, budgets, and, quite evidently, age brackets, this tour ticked my boxes for how I wanted to enjoy this corner of Africa. It’s unlike anywhere I’ve ever been. In a post-Covid era, being well outside my comfort zone and fully immersing myself in nature is what I seek in a transformative getaway. And if that means holidaying with bare minimum creature comforts, sleeping in a dorm bunk bed, being pegged to the earth camping, enduring long rides, and potentially feeling ancient among my peers, so be it. Consider it resilience training.
Speaking of resilience, my partying spirit is tested at the foothills of South Africa’s Cederberg mountains. A guided group wine-tasting experience at the campsite acts as a social lubricant. But as I age like fine wine, my desire and tolerance to alcohol have lessened. Any hangover I get now lasts for days, not hours.
But that’s not the case for the younger gen, ordering multiple bottles and drinking late into the night, never mind the prospect of an eight-hour journey while sheepish the next day. I’ve suffered countless times on the hazy side; the aftermath is brutal, particularly when nomadic. I now recognise big nights as no longer my idea of fun. I value my sleep, waking up fresh the next day. Someday, my newfound travelling friends will too.
My anxiety around my maturity lessens as I get to know everyone. A group of five Kiwi students in their early 20s take me under their wing, with tour happenings and taking turns sitting next to me on our ‘Lando’ bus. Sharing the same enthusiasm and exertion levels, age becomes just a number when partaking in outdoor activities – hiking, game drives, epic 4WD adventures down colossal sand dunes and enjoying campfires under a starry sky.
Reaching Namibia's Tropic of Capricorn. Photo / Julia D'Orazio
I come face to face with my future of group travel in Namibia’s adventure capital Swakopmund. I’m taking part in a fat bike tour across desert sand dunes, joined by people from a National Geographic Journeys tour – a collaboration with G Adventures that includes far more creature comforts at a premium price tag.
It makes me realise that whether I’m the oldest or youngest is irrelevant; it is mindset. I’m young at heart. I now have inner peace knowing that when I eventually tick over the age bracket, a new, like-minded tribe awaits.
Details
For more information on G Adventures’ Cape & Dunes Northbound: Wildlife & Starry Night Skies tour, visit gadventures.com.
The writer was a guest of South African Tourism and G Adventures.
